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GREENLAND 

BY   THE   POLAK   SEA 


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The  story  of  Shackleton's  Last  Expedition, 
1914-1917.  By  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton, 
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THE  HEART   OF  THE 
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THE  HOME  OF  THE  BLIZZARD 

Being  the  story  of  the  Australian  Ant- 
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GREENLAND 

BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

THE  STORY  OF  THE.  THULE   EXPEDITION 
FROM   MELVILLE  BAY  TO  CAPE  MORRIS  JESUP 

BY    KNUD    RASMUSSEN 

TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    DANISH    BY 
ASTA    AND    ROWLAND    KENNEV 

WITH  PREFACE  BY  ADMIRAL  SIR  LEWIS  BEAUMONT,  G.C.B 


WITH  NUMEROUS  ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  BLACK  AM)  WHITE, 
BIGHT  COLOUR  PLATES,  AND  MAPS 


>  •      • 


NEW    VOHK 
FREDERICK    A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

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Printed  m  Great  Britain 


V) 


PREFACE 

GREENLAND  by  the  Polar  Sea  "  is  the  story,  now  intro- 
duced to  English  readers,  of  Mr.  Knud  Rasmussen's 
last  expedition  to  the  Polar  shores  of  North  Greenland. 
He  counts  it  as  his  Fourth  Thule  Expedition,  which  shows  how 
active  and  persevering  has  been  his  exploration  of  North  Green- 
land since  1910,  when  he  first  formed  his  base  of  operations,  and 
pa  trading  station,  at  North  Star  Bay,  and  gave  it  the  name  of 
r/ Thule.     Two  of  these   remarkable  expeditions  were   sledge 
£ journeys  across  the  inland-ice  to  the  north-eastern  and  northern 
coasts  of  Greenland  which  yielded  valuable  results,  clearing  up 
-some  geographical  doubts,  and  practically  linking  up  the  eastern 
{{I  and  western  discoveries  of  former  explorers.     Knud  Rasmussen 
vjmay  confidently  be  said  to  be  a  very  special  and  exceptionally 
favoured  explorer  of  these  regions,  for  not  only  was  he  born  in 
•  Greenland  and  lived  there  as  a  boy,  but  his  life  among  the  Green- 
J  landers  and  Eskimos,  his  perfect  knowledge  of  their  language, 
.Jr  his  admiration  of  their  character,  courage,  and  loyalty,  and  his 
'o  intense  desire  to  be  the  historian  of  their  origin,  traditions,  and 
V  future  development  have,  in  a  large  measure,  inspired  him  with 
the  explorer's  enthusiasm  and  have  made  him  feel  it  to  be  pos- 
sible, with  slender  means  and  limited  resources,  to  complete  the 
work  begun  by  the  far  more  costly  expeditions  which  have  gone 
before.  These  advantages,  however,  would  have  availed  nothing 
without  Knud  Rasmussen's  own  personal  qualities  as  an  explorer 
— every  page  of  the  narrative  shows  his  high  capacity  and 
thoughtfulness  as  a  commander,  his  resourcefulness  and  daring 
as  a  leader,  and  the  splendid  courage  and  power  of  endurance 
which  carried  him  through  a  time  of  extreme  trial  and  responsi- 
bility.    It  was  his  firm  support  and  example  which  saved  the 
party  from  death  on  the  return  journey. 

v 


PREFACE 

To  those  readers  who  are  not  familiar  with  the  physical  con- 
ditions of  the  immense  mass  of  land  known  as  Greenland  it  may 
be  of  use  to  explain  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  larger  south  half 
are  spoken  of  as  Greenlanders  and  those  to  the  north  of  Melville 
Bay  as  Polar  Eskimos  or  Arctic  Highlanders.  The  inland- 
ice  forms  a  barrier  between  the  two,  so  that  communication 
between  them  can  only  be  made  by  ship. 

Never  before  has  the  Arctic  Highlander  been  made  known 
to  us  in  such  intimate  detail  and  with  such  true  and  affectionate 
understanding  of  his  life  and  character  as  Rasmussen  here  gives 
us  ;  he  speaks  as  one  of  them,  who  has  lived  their  life  and  shared 
their  experiences,  and  to  whom,  as  a  people,  he  has  become 
deeply  attached.  No  wonder  then  that  never  before  has  an 
explorer  been  rewarded  with  such  unstinted  and  devoted  service 
as  he  receives  from  them.  It  is  well  to  make  this  point  clear, 
which  Rasmussen  in  his  narrative  so  modestly  accepts  as  natural 
and  does  not  emphasize.  Early  expeditions  in  those  regions 
used  one  or  two  Eskimos  as  hunters  and  dog-drivers,  and  gained 
their  experience  of  Arctic  life  at  great  cost  and  with  but  small 
results.  Peary,  in  his  twenty-four  years  of  patient  and  deter- 
mined effort  to  discover  the  hidden  secrets  of  the  Polar  Basin, 
advanced  step  by  step  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Eskimo's  char- 
acter and  the  value  of  his  hunting  craft  and  wonderful  travelling 
instinct,  but  Rasmussen  alone  has  led  an  important  and  success- 
fid  expedition  equipped  and  conducted  entirely  in  Eskimo 
fashion  and  maintained,  in  its  long  and  adventurous  journey, 
by  Eskimo  hunting.  It  is  only  such  a  combination  of  European 
leadership  and  skill,  adapted  to  native  craft  and  conditions,  that 
could  have  made  such  an  extended  exploration  possible  to  him. 
The  interest  of  the  narrative  is  great,  and  sustained  at  a  high 
level  by  the  literary  charm  of  the  descriptions  and  the  unaffected 
light  and  shade  which  runs  through  the  whole  story.  It  is  the 
mark  of  a  leader  to  keep  his  party  in  good  spirits ;  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  historian  to  show  upon  whom  fell  the  responsibility  and 
the  decisions  in  emergencies.  It  was  right  to  call  it  a  great 
adventure,  but  Rasmussen,  in  the  spirit  of  the  true  explorer, 
says  :  "  The  risk  one  runs  on  such  expeditions  (when  their  lives 
vi 


PREFACE 

depended  upon  the  game  found  by  hunting)  was  quite  clear  to 
me ;  but  the  mind  never  occupies  itself  with  the  dangers  when 
one  is  setting  out.  Every  Polar  traveller  is  aware  of  his  risks 
when  he  leaves  his  home  to  set  foot  on  unknown  shores ;  and 
thus  it  was  also  with  us.  All  my  comrades  greeted  my  plans 
with  enthusiasm,  and  every  man  was  inspired  with  one  thought 
only  :  the  certainty  of  success."  It  was  in  this  spirit  that  they 
set  out. 

Rasmussen's  tribute  to  the  work  done  by  his  predecessors  in 
Arctic  exploration  is  most  generous  and  discriminating ;  he 
shows  that  he  understood  their  difficulties,  though  they  were 
not  his  in  the  same  way,  and  what  they  accomplished  he  is  eager 
to  recognize  and  admire.  They,  or  such  of  them  as  remain, 
in  their  turn  are  glad  and  ready  to  say  that  what  he  and  his  com- 
panions have  added  to  the  sum  of  Polar  knowledge  by  their 
detailed  mapping  of  the  coast-lands — the  fauna,  flora,  and 
geological  formation  of  the  north-western  section  of  Greenland 
and  its  connection  with  the  discoveries  of  the  eastern  coasts — 
has  set  the  crown  on  the  labours  of  those  who  have  toiled  before 
him  in  the  same  field,  and  that  his  fine  achievement  has  for  ever 
put  him  in  the  front  rank  of  Polar  explorers. 

LEWIS   BEAUMONT. 


vn 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


PREFACE  BY  ADMIRAL  SIR  LEWIS  BEAUMONT,  G.C.B.  v 

INTRODUCTION  xvii 

CHAPTER  I 

FROM  THE  LIFE  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE  ESKIMOS  1 

CHAPTER  II 

THE    GREAT    SLEDGE   JOURNEY   TO   THE    NORTH 
COAST  OF  GREENLAND  33 

CHAPTER  III 

WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND  61 

CHAPTER  IV 

CAPE  SUMNER  TO  DRAGON  POINT  80 

CHAPTER  V 

SHERARD    OSBORNE    FJORD    TO    NORDENSKJOLD 
FJORD  94 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  CAMP  BY  THE  OWL'S  NEST  124 

CHAPTER  VII 

CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCKWOOD'S  BEACON  137 

CHAPTER  VIII 

DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR  152 

CHAPTER  IX 

ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY  166 

CHAPTER  X 

SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD  TO  ST.  GEORGE  FJORD       182 

CHAPTER  XI 

THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY  ACROSS  THE  INLAND- 
ICE  210 

ix 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XII 

SEEKING  HELP  241 

CHAPTER  XIII 

A  RACE  WITH  DEATH  259 

CHAPTER  XIV 

A  RUNIC  MEMORIAL  271 

CHAPTER  XV 

HOME  TO  THULE  284 

APPENDICES 

FLORA  AND   FAUNA  ON   THE   NORTH    COAST   OF 

GREENLAND  292 

BASED  ON  DR.  WULFFS  NOTES  BY  C.  H.  OSTENFELD 

GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  301 

BY  LAUGE  KOCH 
THE    ROUTES     OF    ESKIMO     WANDERINGS    INTO 
GREENLAND  312 

INDEX  321 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

To/are 
page 

Trangi:  avkx  :    the    Hakbouu    for    the    whole    Merchant    Fleet   of 

Greenland  xviii 

The  Colony  :  Egedesminde  (North  Greenland)  xviii 

Leaving  the  Church  at  Jacobshavn  xix 

With   the  Sledges   as   Ferries   we   of  Qaersorssuaq   cross   over   to 

Upernivik  Island  xx 

Upernivik  Island  xx 

The  Expedition  Ship  "Danmark"  at  Thule  Harbour  xxi 

John  Ross'  first  Meeting  with  Polar  Eskimos  xxiv 

The  Route  1 

Eskimos  at  Ikeeasak,  Umanaq  Fjord  4 

Tasiussaq  :  the  most  Northern  Colony  in  Greenland  4 

The  Devil's  Thumb  5 

The  Whalers'  Fleet,  1818  8 

The  Sailing  Ships  breaking  through  the  Ice  at  the  time  of  John 

Ross  8 

Returning  from  Walrus  Hunting,  Thule  9 

Tobias  Gabriels  en  12 

Simon,  the  Old  Bear-Hunter  12 

An  Old  Wanderer  from  Melville  Bay  12 

Eskimo  Boy  from  Upernivik  13 

Thule  13 

Eskimos  Drinking  Coffee  in  Old  Style  16 

qlngminegarfik  in  inglefield  gulf  16 

Sabine  Island  :  Melville  Bay  17 

Arnanguaq  18 

xi 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

To  face 
page 

Eskimo  returning  to  Harbour  18 

Sketches  by  Qujakitsunguaq  19 

Harpooning  a  Walrus  from  a  Kayak  20 

Eskimos  going  out  on  the  New  Ice  to  hunt  Walrus  20 

Harpooning  Walrus  20 

Walrus  being  pulled  up  by  the  aid  of  Primitive  Tackle  20 

Two  young  Eskimo  Mothers  with  their  Children  21 

Grazing  Reindeer  22 

Musk  Cows  with  Calf  22 

Swimming  Reindeer  pursued  by  Kayaks  22 

Seal  being  Harpooned  as  it  comes  up  to  its  Breathing-Hole  23 

Killed  Musk-Oxen  being  Skinned  23 

Polar  Eskimos  dressed  in  Fox  Fur  Coats  23 

Polar  Eskimos'  House  24 

Asarpaka  24 

Kagssaluk  24 

Bearded  Seal  25 

Killed  Narwhal  25 

Walrus  breaking  the  Surface  of  the  Sea  28 

The  Three  Brothers  21) 

The  Beautiful  Isigaitsoq  30 

Eskimo  Boy  30 

Eskimo  Girl  30 

Inuteq  31 

Ajorssalik  31 

Hall's  Grave  31 

Little  Incidents  from  Everyday  Life  32 

Thule  Station  33 

A  Jolly  Evening  at  Thule  before  breaking  up  for  the  Journey  33 

Feom  Thule  to  Humboldt  Glacier  34 

The  "  Danmark  "  in  Winter  Harbour  35 

xii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

To  lace 
page 

One  of  the  Sledges  near  Ulugssat  35 

The  Pack-Sledges  set  out  from  Neqe  40 

Young  Bear-Hunter  41 

Two  Eskimo  Boys  of  Seventeen  Years  41 

The  Meat-Matador  Majaq  50 

Eskimo  Smile  50 

Winter-House  before  the  Snow  Falls  51 

My  Own  Dogs  ready  for  Starting  51 

Fine  Driving  along  the  Beautiful  Frontage  of  the  Mountains  of 

Washington  Land  56 

Nasaitsordluarsuk  :  the  Youngest  Member  of  our  Expedition  57 

The  last  Immigrant  from  Baffin  Land  :  Merqusak  57 

Forward  at  an  even  Trot  60 

The  little  Bear,  surrounded  by  all  the  Dogs  60 

From  Humboldt  Glacier  to  Newman  Bay  61 

Cape  Constitution  86 

Page  of  Peary's  Report  87 

Cape  Sumner  :  Dragon  Point  92 

Markham  Plants  the  Union  Jack  farthest  North  94 

Lieut.  L.  A.  Beaumont  94 

Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  95 

Beaumont's  Report,  1876  96 

Beaumont's  Report,  1876  97 

Beaumont's  Map  from  1876  98 

The  Land  round  Cape  May  99 

The  first  Three  Musk-Oxen  104 

Inukitsoq's  Ten  Musk-Oxen  104 

A  Rest  off  Stephenson  Island  in  the  Mouth  of  Victoria  Fjord  105 

The  White  Wolves  Howl  their  peculiar  melancholy  and  desolate 

Lamentation  1 1 2 

The  Low  Glacier  with  Lines  of  Movement  113 

Digging  Ourselves  Out  after  a  Snowstorm  113 

xiii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

To  face 

page 

Ajako  at  Beaumont's  Beacon  116 

Dr.  Thorild  Wulff,  taken  at  the  time  we  left  Etah  117 

A  General  Council  117 

Cape  Wohlgemuth  128 

View  towards  the  Whirlpool  in  I.  P.  Koch  Fjord  129 

Lockwood's  Report  at  Cape  Mohn  148 

Lauge  Koch  149 

The  Snow  begins  to  get  Wet  149 

De  Long  Fjord  152 

Another  Beport  from  Lockwood  deposited  at  Cap  Bennett  158 

Towards  Cape  Eamsay  159 

The  Sledge  being  Sucked  Down  by  the  Water  under  the  Snow  166 

On  the  Look-out  for  Musk-Ox  166 

Crossing  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  167 

MUSK-OX   READY  TO  DlE  172 

Breaking  up  for  Musk-Ox  Hunting  in  Macmillan  Valley  173 

"The  big  Bull  made  a  sudden  Sortie,  quick  as  Lightning"  176 

Through  Lakes  of  Melted  Ice  177 

"  The  Bull  stood  there,  its  phantastic  Summer  Coat  fluttering  in 

the  Breeze  "  188 

Dr.  Wulff  ready  to  go  through  the  Water  189 

We  Ferry  across  the  Coastal  Lane  by  Dragon  Point  189 

"Patiently,   almost   shyly,   it  allowed   us   to   Photograph   it  at   a 

Distance  of  Two  Metres"  204 

"  They  approached  us  slowly  and  fearlessly  "  205 

Ascending  the  Inland-Ice,  with  a  View  of  St.  George  Fjord  210 

We  are  Stopped  by  Land  with  Steep  Slopes  210 

The  North  Coast  of  Greenland  211 

The  same  District  Mapped  by  the  Thule  Expedition  211 

Through  the  big  Ice  Lakes  near  Cape  May  216 

The  Rotten  Ice  in  St.  George  Fjord  where  Ajako  Shot  his  Seal  217 

The  big  River  by  the  Tent-Camp  in  St.  George  Fjord  226 

xiv 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

To/are 
paffr 

Against  the  Snowstorm  227 

At  the  Brink  of  the  Abyss,  the  Devil's  Cleft  236 

The  Devil's  Cleft  237 

Map  showing  where  Wulff  Died  254 

Captain  George  Comer  255 

The  Crockerland  Expedition's  Hut  255 

Our  Hostess  :  Ane  Sofie  from  Kangerdlugssuag  288 

Mission  House  at  Kangerdlugssuag  288 

Our  Dogs  289 

White-Blossomed  Saxifrage  in  front  of  a  Stone  Block  294 

Types  of  Grasses  294 
Various  Herbaceous  Plants  from  the  North  Coast  of  Greenland         295 

A  many  years  old  Specimen  of  the  Arctic  Willow  296 

Section    of  the  Thickest   Stem    of    Willow    which   the  Expedition 

Found  296 

An  exceptionally  vigorous  Shoot  of  Arctic  Willow  296 

A  small  Reed  297 

Yellow-Blossomed  Saxifrage  297 

Herbaceous  Plants  with  Rosulate  Radicle  Leaves  298 

White  Puff-Balls  among  Grass  and  Willow  Leaves  298 

Types  of  Grasses  growing  in  Moist  Places  299 

Fossilized  Ortoceratite  from  Washington  Land  302 

Trilobite  and  Brachiopod  from  Warming  Land  302 

Coral  from  Washington  Land  302 

Trilobite  and  Brachiopod  from  Warming  Land  303 

Coral  from  Washington  Land  303 

Geologic  Map  of  North-West  Greenland  308 

Tail-Shell  of  a  Trilobite  from  Washington  Laud  309 

Small  Chart  of  Air  309 

Bird's-Eye    View    of    the    <;reat    Fjords    on    the    North  Coast    of 

Greenland  3 1  -' 

Map  showing  Immigration  to  Greenland  313 

XV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Eskimo  Hunting  Implements 

Eskimo  Implements 

Greenlanders  from  the  middle  of  the  Seventeenth  Century 

Uphill 

Eskimo  Stone  Huts  in  Spring 


Tojace 
■page 

314 
315 
316 
317 
317 


COLOUR    PLATES 

BEAR  HUNT  Frontispiece 

ESKIMO  GRAVES,  SAUNDERS  ISLAND  14 

FLENSING  THE  NARWHAL  26 

SNOW  HUTS  NEAR  AN  ICE  MOUNTAIN  52 

A  SNOWY  OWL  DEFENDING   HIS  WIFE'S  EGGS  AGAINST  THE 

WOLF  132 

LANDSCAPE  IN  GREENLAND  200 

INGLEFIELD  LAND  286 

THE  COLONY :  HOLSTENBORG  (SOUTH  GREENLAND)  306 


MAP 


326 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION 

IN  the  year  1910,  at  North  Star  Bay,  in  North  Greenland, 
I  founded  an  Arctic  Station  wherefrom  I  could  explore 
the  regions  which  as  yet  had  not  been  closely  examined. 
The  first  result  from  this  station  was  the  first  Thule  Expedition. 
The  various  expeditions  which  subsequently  went  out  with  this 
station  as  their  base  I  have  therefore  named  after  the  station, 
Thule. 

On  the  first  Thule  Expedition  in  1912,  when  the  route  was 
laid  across  the  inland-ice  of  Greenland  from  Clements  Markham 
Glacier  in  the  mouth  of  Inglefield  Gulf  on  the  west  coast  to 
Denmark  Fjord  on  the  east  coast,  we  forced  our  way  through 
Independence  Fjord  into  the  land  connecting  Greenland  and 
Peary  Land,  and  by  charting  we  established  that  the  channel 
which  Robert  E.  Peary  thought  he  had  discovered  between 
Independence  Fjord  on  the  north-east  side  and  Nordenskjold 
Inlet  on  the  north-west  side  was  non-existent. 

Because  of  the  long  journey,  more  than  1,000  kilometres 
across  the  inland-ice,  and  the  conditions  which  made  progress 
difficult  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Denmark  Fjord,  we  did  not 
succeed  in  pushing  quite  through  from  the  recently  discovered 
Adam  Biering  Land  to  the  vicinity  of  Nordenskjold  Inlet  and 
Sherard  Osborne  Fjord.  At  the  time  when  the  decision  to 
commence  the  return  journey  was  made  we  had  spent  more 
than  four  months  of  incessant  and  very  strenuous  journeying 
through  unknown  regions,  and  out  of  consideration  both  for 
ourselves  and  our  dogs  we  found  it  necessary  to  attempt  the 
homeward  journey  across  the  inland-ice  to  my  station  Thule  by 
North  Star  Bay,  and  postpone  the  exploration  of  the  unknown 
districts  of  Greenland  until  the  time  when  the  work  could  be 
recommenced  with  renewed  strength. 
b  xvii 


INTRODUCTION 

In  the  winter  of  1914  the  first  attempt  to  realize  our  plans 
was  made,  with  Peter  Freuchen,  my  cartographer  of  the  first 
Thule  Expedition,  as  chief ;  but  a  fall  through  a  glacier  crevasse 
during  the  ascent  on  to  the  inland-ice  forced  him  to  turn  back, 
and  later  on,  owing  to  his  theodolite  having  been  destroyed  by 
the  fall,  it  had  been  impossible  for  him  to  get  away. 

Meanwhile  this  expedition  stood  like  an  unredeemed  pledge 
from  my  Arctic  Station,  and  as,  for  various  practical  reasons, 
it  must  be  finished  with  before  I  commenced  my  ethnographical 
voyage  to  the  American  Eskimos  (the  fifth  Thule  Expedition — 
the  Danish  Expedition  to  the  Arctic  North  America),  which 
would  last  several  years,  I  decided  to  make  an  attempt  to  realize 
it  in  the  year  1916. 

It  will  be  the  main  object  of  this  expedition  to  survey  and 
chart  the  last  unknown  reach  of  Greenland's  north  coast  on  the 
stretch  between  St.  George  Fjord  and  de  Long  Fjord.  We 
shall,  of  course,  with  special  keenness  penetrate  into  the  con- 
necting land  between  Nordenskjold  Inlet  and  Independence 
Fjord. 

The  survey  of  the  districts  to  which  we  are  going  will,  in 
addition  to  the  geographical  result,  present  very  interesting 
ethnographical  problems,  as  it  will  be  of  importance  to  the 
theory  of  the  Eskimos'  wanderings  to  establish  whether  or  not 
in  the  above-mentioned  big  fjords  Eskimo  winter-houses  are 
to  be  found.  As  is  known,  tent-rings  have  been  found  in  Peary 
Land,  but  never  winter-houses.  The  northern  border  of  the 
winter-houses  is,  on  the  east  coast  of  North  Greenland,  Sophus 
Miiller  Point  and  Eskimo  Point,  respectively  in  Amdrup  and 
Holm  Land,  whilst  the  northern  border  on  the  west  coast  is  the 
vicinity  of  Humboldt's  Glacier  and  Lake  Hazen  in  Grant 
Land.  Thus,  for  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  Eskimos'  wan- 
derings, an  examination  of  the  great  fjords  on  Greenland's  north 
coast  is  wanting. 

Of  the  geological  tasks  which  the  expedition  may  be  faced 
with,  I  will  merely  mention  the  following  :  Whilst  the  whole 
of  Western  and  Eastern  Greenland  during  the  last  century  has 
been  geologically  surveyed  by  various  expeditions,  the  stretch 
xviii 


TRANGKAVEN :     THE    HARMOl'U    KOI!    THE    WHOLE    MERCHANT    FLEET    OF    GREENLAND 


THE    COLONY:     EGEDESMINDE    (NORTH    GREENLAND) 


INTRODUCTION 

from  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  to  Peary  Land,  with  the  latter's 
unknown  fjords,  still  stands  as  the  missing  link  between  the  east 
and  the  west  coast ;  until  these  regions  have  been  examined  no 
complete  picture  of  Greenland  can  be  formed.  And  just  as 
the  coasts  and  fjords  up  here  at  the  northern  extremity  are  still 
waiting  to  be  charted,  so  the  keystone  of  the  journeys  of 
geological  exploration  can  only  be  laid  through  an  examination 
of  these  regions. 

In  addition  to  the  work  which  I  have  now  outlined,  careful 
meteorological  diaries  will  be  kept  during  the  whole  of  the 
expedition,  and  botanical  and  zoological  collections  will  be 
made. 

This  expedition,  as  the  first  Thule  Expedition,  will  through- 
out be  equipped  in  Eskimo  fashion,  so  that  we  can  live  by  hunt- 
ing whilst  at  the  same  time  we  attend  to  our  scientific  interests. 

The  expense  is  met  by  my  station  Thule,  which  is  controlled 
by  a  committee  consisting  of — 

Ingenior  M.  lb.  Nyeboe,  Chairman. 
Grosserer  Chr.  Erichsen. 
Lektor  Chr.  Rasmussen. 

The  scientific  work  which  is  being  done,  and  which  also  in 
the  future  will  be  done,  from  this  station  has  made  it  desirable 
that  we  should  be  in  more  direct  communication  with  scientists, 
wherefore  a  scientific  committee  has  been  formed,  consisting 

of— 

Professor  Dr.  phil.  H.  Jungersen. 
Kaptajn  I.  P.  Koch. 
Professor  O.  B.  Boggild. 
Professor  H.  P.  Steensby. 
Museumsinspektor,  Dr.  phil.  C.  H.  Ostenfeld. 

Originally  I  had  intended  to  undertake  this  expedition  with 
only  one  companion,  the  Danish  geologist  Lauge  Koch,  M.A. 
We  left  Copenhagen  on  the  1st  of  April,  1916,  and  reached 
Thule  by  the  middle  of  June,  but  continual  storms  and  uncom- 
monly difficult  travelling  conditions  forced  us  to  postpone  the 
journey  until  the  following  spring.     Meanwhile,  in  the  course 

xix 


INTRODUCTION 

of  the  summer  the  old  expedition  ship  the  Danmark  called  at 
my  station  on  its  way  to  Etah  to  fetch  the  American  Crocker- 
land  Expedition,  which  for  several  years  had  wintered  there. 
On  board  this  ship  was  a  Swedish  scientist,  Dr.  Thorild  Wulff, 
whose  original  field  of  labour  comprised  only  the  districts  round 
Smith  Sound  and  Melville  Bay  ;  but  when  Dr.  Wulff  heard  that 
we  had  postponed  our  expedition  until  the  following  year,  he 
announced  himself  with  great  enthusiasm  as  a  fellow-member 
for  the  sledge  journey  in  the  spring. 

His  name  as  a  botanist,  and  his  expert  knowledge  of  the 
Arctic  flora,  made  it  a  matter  of  course  that  he  should  be 
accepted  as  a  member  of  the  proposed  expedition  to  regions 
which  had  never  been  visited  by  experts. 

The  expedition  then  wintered  at  my  station  Thule,  being 
constantly  in  training  by  sledge  journeys,  which  reached  to 
Etah  in  the  north  and  right  down  to  Upernivik  in  the  south. 
It  will  merely  lead  to  a  repetition  of  the  experience  of  other 
expeditions  if  I  describe  our  excursions  during  the  period  whilst 
we  were  waiting  for  the  light — that  is,  from  October  to 
February.  And  as  it  cannot  be  presumed  that  all  who  may 
read  this  book  know  anything  about  the  Polar  Eskimos,  I  will 
instead  attempt  to  give  a  sketch  of  the  people  whose  ways  of 
finding  a  subsistence  and  whose  travelling  technique  was  the 
base  on  which  we  built  our  great  journey. 

With  occasional  breaks  I  have  lived  with  this  people — the 
Arctic  Highlanders — since  1903,  and  I  have  learned  to  love 
them  as  highly  as  I  admire  their  remarkable  ability  to  live  the 
life  of  these  harsh  regions.  But  first  it  will  be  appropriate  to 
give  an  account  of  my  expedition  and  its  plan. 

The  scientific  equipment  of  the  expedition  was  very  simple — 
as  is  necessary  for  a  long  sledge  journey.  It  consisted  of  one 
theodolite,  three  aneroid  barometers,  one  cooking  barometer, 
one  maximal  and  two  minimal  thermometers,  various  spirit  and 
mercury  thermometers,  one  anemometer,  and  one  hygrometer. 
Finally,  Dr.  Wulff  brought  everything  necessary  for  pressing 
and  preserving  plants. 

During  the  preparations  for  this  journey,  the  seriousness 
xx 


WITH   THE    SLEDGES  AS  FERRIES  WE  OF  oAERSORSSUAQ  CROSS 
OVER    TO    UPERNIVIK    ISLAND 


UPERNIVIK    ISLAND 


INTRODUCTION 

of  which  none  of  us  under-estimated,  I  made  out  on  the  14th  of 
February  a  written  agreement  which  was  signed  by  all.  Only 
the  following  extract  will  be  of  interest,  the  remainder  relating 
to  routes  and  dispositions  which  will  be  self-evident  later  on  : 

"Although  it  is  quite  clear  to  me  that  it  is  very  difficult 
previous  to  a  start  to  specify  an  Expedition  in  sections,  I  have 
found  it  necessary  to  do  this  so  that  you,  my  comrades,  may 
have  some  fixed  point  for  the  planning  of  the  various  parts  of 
the  work  to  be  carried  out. 

"  The  Expedition  will  consist  of — 

Dr.  Thorild  Wulff,  Botanist  and  Biologist. 

Lauge  Koch,  Geologist  and  Cartographer. 

Hendrik  Olsen,  previously  a  member  of  the  Danmark 
Expedition. 

Ajako. 

Nasaitsordluarsuk,  called  Bosun. 

Inukitsoq,  called  Harrigan. 

And  myself,  as  Chief  and  Ethnographer  to  the  Expedi- 
tion. 

"In  a  previously  presented  plan  all  the  tasks  have  already 
been  worked  out. 

"  As  regards  dispositions  of  journeys  and  routes  I  am  abso- 
lute Chief.  But  I  will,  of  course,  within  the  domain  of  your 
respective  professions,  grant  you  all  the  freedom  which  circum- 
stances may  permit,  and  you  will  also,  as  often  as  your  work 
may  demand,  be  exempted  from  hunting. 

"  I  wish  beforehand  to  emphasize  that  during  the  Expedi- 
tion there  must  be  no  difference  in  standing  between  the 
Eskimos  and  ourselves,  the  Eskimos  being  members  of  the 
Expedition  with  equal  rights  and  duties  to  the  scientists,  and 
no  man  but  the  leader  must  have  command  over  them." 

Several  large  expeditions  richly  equipped  had  already  been 
to  the  regions  we  were  to  visit ;  but  none  of  them  had  succeeded 
in  acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  country — this  despite 
the  fact  that  due  to  its  position  it  must  contain  the  key  to  many 
problems  decisive  for  the  exploration  and  history  of  Greenland. 

xxi 


INTRODUCTION 

The  explanation  is  this  :  The  distances  between  the  fields  of 
labour  are  immense  ;  the  conditions  of  the  ground  are  bad  ;  and 
in  the  fjords  there  is  bottomless  snow.  For  these  reasons  those 
who  have  visited  this  district  with  what  is  called  good  equip- 
ment could  not  get  ahead.  Their  heavy  baggage  did  not 
permit  them  to  get  about,  and  they  always  preferred  to  follow 
the  route  along  the  Polar-ice  proper,  some  distance  from  land, 
where  the  going  was  firm. 

In  other  words,  that  which  under  all  other  circumstances 
was  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  decided  advantage,  rich  and  good 
equipment,  is  here  a  weight  which  does  not  permit  the  explorer 
to  move  as  quickly  as  the  travelling  season  demands. 

Those  who  were  to  attempt  the  completion  of  the  charting 
of  Greenland  must  therefore  break  entirely  with  the  general 
practice  of  expeditions,  and  completely  rely  upon  the  hunt. 
Only  this  will  make  light  sledges  capable  of  forcing  their  way 
through  the  snow  into  the  deep  fjords. 

Thus  for  us  there  was  no  alternative.  All  the  tasks  we  had 
set  ourselves  were  weighty  and  important,  and  as  long  as  they 
remained  undone  the  exploration  of  Greenland  could  not  be 
considered  accomplished. 

This  work  fell  within  the  International  North  Pole  route, 
which  hitherto  only  the  big  nations  had  dared  to  attempt. 

The  outlines  of  our  work,  however,  were  drawn  by  our 
predecessors,  and  we  therefore  knew  beforehand  that  we  could 
not  expect  any  great  geographical  surprises ;  it  was  only  the 
crumbs  from  the  table  of  the  rich  expeditions  we  were  to  gather, 
and  the  role  we  were  to  play  would  be  comparable  to  that  of 
the  little  Polar  fox,  which  everywhere  on  the  Arctic  coast 
follows  the  footsteps  of  the  big  ice-bear,  hoping  that  something 
good  may  be  left  for  it. 

But  our  task  was  not  an  ungrateful  one,  for  we  came  to  lift 
the  stones  which  the  others  had  let  lie. 

From  our  base  at  Thule  the  distance  we  had  to  cover  to 
Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  was  1,000  kilometres,  whilst  our  pre- 
decessors, with  their  ships  in  winter  harbour  in  Lady  Franklin 
Bay  and  Cape  Sheridan,  had  merely  had  to  go  300  kilometres, 
xxii 


INTRODUCTION 

For  the  above-mentioned  distance  we  would  have  sufficient  pro- 
visions, but  after  that  our  hunt  for  food  must  begin. 

The  experiences  I  had  gained  in  1912  during  the  first  Thule 
Expedition  gave  me  the  right  to  assume  that  such  a  plan  could 
be  justified.  The  game  I  particularly  reckoned  on  was 
musk-ox,  to  be  found  in  the  extensive  tracts  of  land  which  the 
American  maps  show  round  the  fjords  and  their  heads.  Fur- 
ther, there  were  seals.  The  Polar  Eskimos  who,  during  Peary's 
expeditions,  had  traversed  the  mouths  of  the  fjords,  had  told 
me  that  the  ice  here  was  of  such  a  quality  that  one  could  with 
certainty  reckon  on  seals  in  June  and  July ;  breathing-holes 
were  not  infrequently  observed.  This  information,  added  to 
my  own  experiences  from  Independence  Fjord,  where  in  a 
similar  geographical  position  we  found  many  seals,  finally 
decided  me. 

The  risk  one  runs  on  such  hunting  expeditions  was  quite 
clear  to  me  ;  but  the  mind  never  occupies  itself  with  the  dangers 
when  one  is  setting  out.  Every  Polar  traveller  is  aware  of  his 
risks  when  he  leaves  his  home  to  set  foot  on  unknown  shores ; 
and  thus  it  was  also  with  us.  All  my  comrades  greeted  my 
plans  with  enthusiasm,  and  every  man  was  inspired  with  one 
thought  only  :  the  certainty  of  success. 

KNUD   RASMUSSEN. 


xxui 


THE    ROUTE 


CHAPTER  I 

FROM  THE  LIFE  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE 
ESKIMOS 

THE   FIRST  DISCOVERY 

NORTH  of  everyone  on  our  earth  live  the  Polar  Eskimos, 
whose  simple  and  ingenious  ways  of  hunting  have  made 
of  their  harsh  and  barren  country  one  of  those  oases  in  the 
world  where  live  genuinely  happy  people. 

The  first  historical  information  we  possess  about  their 
country  dates  from  the  year  1616,  when  Baffin  discovered  it. 
He,  however,  did  not  see  any  people,  and  it  was  only  in  1818 
that  John  Ross  came  into  touch  with  Eskimo  people  of  whom 
one  had  never  heard  before. 

A  memory  still  remains  amongst  the  tribe  of  a  woman 
named  Maage  (Gull),  who  prophesied  that  a  big  boat  with  tall 
poles  would  come  into  view  from  the  ocean.  And  sure 
enough,  one  summer's  day,  just  as  the  winter-ice  broke  and 
steep  Cape  York  lay  separated  from  the  sea  merely  by  a  narrow 
strip  of  ice,  the  ship  arrived  and  lay  to  by  the  edge  of  the  ice. 
It  was  a  marvel  of  ingenuity — a  whole  island  of  wood  which 
moved  along  the  sea  on  wings,  and  in  its  depths  had  many 
houses  and  rooms  full  of  noisy  people.  Little  boats  hung 
along  the  rail,  and  these,  filled  with  men,  were  lowered  on  the 
water,  and  as  they  surrounded  the  ship  it  looked  as  if  the  monster 
gave  birth  to  living  young. 

This  visit  at  first  caused  great  anxiety  and  fear  among  the 
Eskimos,  but  later  much  joy.  They  did  not  believe  that  the 
white  men  were  real  human  beings,  but  looked  upon  them  as 
spirits  of  the  air  who  had  come  down  to  the  Inuits.  The  ship 
remained  only  for  a  short  time,  then  turned  towards  the  sea 
A  1 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

with  the  sun  shining  on  its  white  wings  and  disappeared  into 
the  horizon. 

Ross's  visit  to  the  simple  and  unprepared  Eskimos  certainly 
caused  a  stir,  and  I  will  therefore  supplement  the  above  phan- 
tastic  narrative  with  something  of  that  which  is  related  in  the 
Record  of  the  Expedition. 

It  is  told  that  the  ship  was  lying  alongside  the  edge  of  the 
ice  when  suddenly,  to  the  surprise  of  everybody  on  board,  on 
the  ice  were  discovered  beings  in  human  likeness,  dressed  in 
pelts  and  with  long,  black  hair  flowing  from  their  heads.  With 
strange  gestures  they  ran  by  the  side  of  their  dog-sledges. 
They  were  quite  close  to  the  ship  when  the  big  white  sails  were 
manoeuvred  ;  and  the  result  of  this  was  a  sudden  about-turn  and 
a  scampering  towards  land  in  apparent  fright. 

A  couple  of  days  elapsed,  during  which  every  possible  effort 
was  made  from  the  ship  for  getting  into  communication  with 
the  Eskimos,  but  without  success.  In  his  despair  Ross  at  last 
had  a  huge  standard  erected  by  an  ice-mountain  between  the 
coast  and  the  ship ;  from  this  he  hung  a  flag,  whereon  the  sun 
and  moon  were  painted  above  a  hand  which  held  out  a  heather 
plant.     Furthermore,  a  bag  of  gifts  hung  from  the  staff. 

This  clever  trick  was,  unfortunately,  not  well  received.  If 
the  Eskimos  had  been  frightened  before,  they  were  now  terror- 
stricken  with  this  mystic  staff  and  its  fluttering  flag,  which  they 
obviously  considered  to  be  some  dangerous  ruse  of  war.  Out 
of  curiosity  they  circled  round  it  for  awhile,  but  having  scanned 
for  a  sufficiently  long  period  the  strange  signs  and  the  friendly 
outstretched  hand,  they  disappeared  hurriedly  towards  land. 

When  this  attempt  miscarried  a  white  flag  was  hoisted  on 
the  mainmast  of  the  ship,  and  at  the  same  time  Sachaeus  was 
sent  out  on  the  ice  with  a  small  white  flag  in  his  hand.  But 
the  Eskimos  did  not  appear  to  have  any  understanding  of  the 
peaceful  purport  of  these  manoeuvres,  and  the  probability  is 
that  these  sagacious  experiments,  which  would  merely  have 
frightened  and  confounded  the  Eskimos  still  more,  would  have 
continued  if  Sachaeus  had  not  shown  himself  a  master  of  the 
situation  and  asked  Ross  for  permission  to  go  to  the  kinsmen 
2 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF   THE   ESKIMOS 

of  his  tribe,  alone  and  unarmed.     By  this  means  communica- 
tion was  at  last  established. 

The  great  meeting  between  the  Polar  Eskimos  and  the 
South-Greenlander  took  place  by  a  broad  fissure  in  the  ice,  so 
that  they  stood  right  opposite  each  other,  with  a  natural 
obstacle  between  them  for  safety's  sake. 

Sachaeus  explained,  not  without  trouble,  that  a  peaceful 
people  had  come  to  them,  and  the  Eskimos  were  just  on  the 
point  of  consenting  to  follow  him  on  board,  when  Ross,  who  of 
course  was  eager  to  meet  these  strange  men,  suddenly  appeared 
on  the  ice  in  his  officer's  full  dress  uniform,  as  given  in  the 
illustration  of  this  scene  in  the  Record  of  the  Expedition. 
This  phantastic  apparition  of  a  man  nearly  frightened  the 
Eskimos  away  again ;  but  as  the  friendship  with  Sachosus  had 
already  begun,  and  as  he  explained  to  the  marvelling  natives 
that  this  peculiar  dress  was  merely  an  outward  sign  of  the  fact 
that  the  big  man  was  lord  of  all  white  peoples,  they  let  them- 
selves be  calmed  down  and  followed  him  on  board. 

It  is  highly  praiseworthy  of  the  Eskimos  that  they,  in  spite 
of  all  the  inexplicable  things  they  saw,  allowed  themselves  to 
be  coaxed  on  board  and,  in  the  Chief's  cabin  with  Sachseus  as 
interpreter,  to  give  wise  and  dignified  answers  to  the  many 
questions  that  were  put  to  them.  Imagine  the  impression 
they  must  have  received  when,  presumably  to  amuse  them,  a 
grunting  Scotch  pig  was  let  loose  on  deck — these  men  who 
were  only  used  to  wild  animals !  Or  when  they  were  treated 
to  a  conjurer's  performance,  and  allowed  to  look  at  themselves 
in  a  concave  mirror  ! 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Ross  sums  up  his  impressions 
of  them  by  stating  that  they  all  speak  lovingly  of  each  other 
and  their  families,  and  on  the  whole  seem  to  live  happily,  with- 
out knowledge  of  disease  and  war. 

Already  as  a  child  I  had  in  Greenland  heard  much  about 
the  Polar  Eskimos,  but  it  was  mostly  vague  tales  of  savage 
cannibals,  terrible  hunters  who  lived  with  the  North  Wind 
himself,  right  at  the  "end  of  the  world,"  where  it  was  always 
night  and  where  no  summer  melted  the  ice  of  the  seas. 

3 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

"  I  must  go  to  those  people,"  I  decided  as  a  twelve-year-old 
boy,  and  this  decision,  which  later  on  I  never  succeeded  in 
slinking  away  from,  has,  through  repeatedly  staying  among 
them,  led,  so  to  say,  to  my  reception  into  the  tribe  as  one  of 
their  own,  as  a  friend  and  fellow-hunter. 

No  hunter  exists  up  there  with  whom  I  have  not  hunted, 
and  there  is  hardly  a  child  whose  name  I  do  not  know  ;  but 
then,  the  tribe  consists  of  no  more  than  about  250  individuals. 


ESKIMO   ARCTIC   EXPLORERS 

These  men,  who  have  no  fixed  abode  but  live,  as  does  their 
prey,  ever  on  the  move,  are  born  Arctic  explorers.  From 
childhood  they  are  hardened  by  an  unmerciful  cold,  and  their 
means  of  livelihood  exposes  them  almost  daily  to  severe 
physical  strain  and  sudden  dangers  which  sharpen  their 
presence  of  mind  and  make  their  contempt  of  death  a  matter 
of  course,  the  consequence  being  that  they  are  unsurpassed  as 
companions  on  Arctic  Expeditions. 

Kane,  Hayes,  Hall,  Nares,  Peary,  the  Crockerlands 
Expedition,  and,  last,  but  not  least,  I  myself  recognized  this, 
and  through  these  expeditions,  comprising  all  those  which 
during  the  last  seventy-five  years  have  explored  and  charted 
the  northernmost  parts  of  our  earth,  the  Eskimos  have  in 
different  ways  done  their  share,  which  must  not  be  undervalued. 

In  this  record,  however,  I  will  dwell  especially  on  Peary, 
because  his  Arctic  travels  represent  a  chapter  of  the  history  of 
the  Polar  Eskimos. 

The  Eskimos  owe  not  a  little  to  Peary,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  without  their  help  Peary's  name  might  have  been  less 
famous  than  it  is  now ;  for  they  followed  him  on  all  his  expedi- 
tions, left  home  and  country  and  kind  and  put  their  whole 
existence  at  stake  in  realizing  the  phantastic  travelling  schemes 
of  a  foreign  man. 

The  way  in  which  the  Eskimos  risk  their  lives,  when  once 
they  have  promised  a  man  their  assistance,  for  the  solution  of 
problems,  wherein  they  themselves  often  see  merely  manifesta- 
4 


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BP 


ESKIMOS    AT    IKERASAK,    OMANAQ    K.IORD 


TASIUSSAQ  (     THE    MOST    NORTHERN    COLONS    IN'    GREENLAND 


- 

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D 
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LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF    THE   ESKIMOS 

tions  of  the  many  queer  ideas  of  the  strange  white  men,  shows 
plainly  their  absolute  contempt  of  death,  and  what  an  abund- 
ance of  courage  they  possess. 

They  are  not  of  the  type  which,  like  dogs,  put  their  tails 
between  their  legs  and  run  off  when  they  meet  dangers  and  the 
eternal  hopelessness  of  pressure-ice. 

The  Eskimos  are  a  roaming  people,  always  longing  for  a 
change  and  a  surprise — a  people  which  likes  moving  about  in 
search  of  fresh  hunting-grounds,  fresh  possibilities,  and  "  hidden 
things." 

They  are  born  with  the  explorer's  inclinations  and  thirst  for 
knowledge ;  and  they  possess  all  those  qualities  which  go  to 
make  an  explorer  in  those  latitudes. 

When  an  Eskimo  family  moves  on  to  new  ground,  in  a  sur- 
prisingly short  time  it  knows  the  surroundings  for  miles  around 
— paths,  short-cuts,  plains,  mountains,  all  the  natural  features 
which  a  hunter  must  know  so  that  he  may  track  down 
his  prey.  They  study  the  inland-ice  and  find  places  of  easy 
ascent  and  sledge  routes  to  other  coasts  and  new  chances. 
Soon  the  sea  has  no  secrets  regarding  the  movements  and 
favourite  haunts  of  its  animals. 

On  the  whole,  the  hunter  likes  to  leave  the  old  ways  for  the 
stimulating  excitement  which  accompanies  seeking  and  hunting 
under  strange  conditions.  And  he  also  knows  how  to  value 
this  quality  and  this  inclination  in  others. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  happy  sensation  created  among  the 
hunters  of  the  tribe  when,  in  the  spring  of  1907,  I  drove  up  to 
them  with  Osarqaq  and  declared  that  I  was  on  my  way  to 
Ellesmere  Land.  I  had  never  seen  a  musk-ox,  and  now  I  had 
a  longing  to  taste  musk-ox  meat.  You  see,  according  to  their 
opinion  there  must  always  be  a  sensible  reality  behind  one's 
actions.  Oh,  how  well  they  understood  me  !  They  knew  that 
it  was  "two  suns  "  since  I  left  my  country  and  my  family,  and 
that  I  was  still  on  the  road  with  the  same  goal  constantly  in 
view.  They  respected  that.  I  felt  happy  and  touched  when 
an  old  necromancer,  Masaitsiaq,  greeted  me  with  a  call  to  the 
effect  that  it  was  good  that  in  my  own  country  I  had  not  for- 

5 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

gotten  the  hunting  circle  of  my  old  comrades ;  and  then  he 
declared  that  all  the  young  hunters  of  the  tribe  would  vie  with 
each  other  in  showing  me  the  country  which  I  had  never 
seen  before  and  the  animals  which  I  had  never  slain  before. 
And  everything  happened  according  to  his  promise.  Two 
of  the  best  men  in  the  tribe  immediately  declared  that 
they  would  come.  No  considerations  here,  and  no  prepara- 
tions ;  an  Eskimo  is  always  equipped  for  a  long  voyage. 
On  the  following  morning  we  set  out  on  the  1,250  miles  long 
sledge  journey,  and  hunted  together  for  several  months  and 
shared  the  strangest  experiences.  And  we  travelled  together 
as  comrades,  as  equals ;  they  would  take  no  payment  for  the 
long  time  they  were  with  me,  away  from  their  families ;  no, 
this  was  merely  an  episode  in  their  lives,  and  they  would  cer- 
tainly not  be  my  paid  servants. 

In  the  same  way  they  took  part  in  Peary's  voyages,  so  long 
as  he  travelled  on  land.  It  is  therefore  interesting  to  note  the 
position  they  took  up  when  the  Polar  voyage  itself  commenced. 
During  the  first  expeditions  they  agreed  with  pleasure  to  go 
north,  because  they  thought  that  the  voyage  might  result  in 
meeting  with  new  people,  in  the  discovery  of  new  hunting- 
grounds,  or,  at  any  rate,  of  land  fit  for  habitation.  But  later 
on,  when  they  were  told  that  they  risked  their  lives  for  a 
geographical  point  only,  a  point  somewhere  in  the  desert  of 
pressure-ice  where  neither  men,  nor  game,  nor  land  existed,  then 
the  toil  seemed  to  them  so  utterly  aimless  that  their  participa- 
tion now  required  entirely  fresh  motives.  Partly  there  was  the 
respect  for  Peary — I  have  often  been  told  that  "  he  asked  with 
so  strong  a  will  to  gain  his  wish,  that  it  was  impossible  to  say 
no  "  ;  partly,  also,  there  was  the  wish  to  possess  guns,  wood,  and 
knives  which  were  the  payment  for  participation.  But  their 
personal  interest  to  reach  the  goal,  their  private  ambition  to 
arrive  there,  no  longer  existed.  For  twenty  years  Peary  had 
seen  among  the  Polar  Eskimos  the  base  of  his  expedition,  and 
during  this  short  period  these  people  had  jumped  from  the  stone 
age  to  the  present  time  in  their  technical  civilization. 

When  Peary  came  there  for  the  first  time  the  tribe  was  in 
6 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF   THE   ESKIMOS 

all  essentials  untouched.  Guns  were  hardly  known,  the  chief 
weapons  on  land  being  the  bow,  and  on  sea  the  harpoon.  Long 
before  Peary  finished  his  last  expedition  all  the  hunters 
possessed  the  most  modern  of  the  breech-loading  guns  of  our 
time.  The  old  knives,  which  consisted  of  little  splinters  of 
meteoric  stone,  laboriously  hafted  in  bits  of  reindeer  skin  or 
narwhal  tusk,  were  replaced  by  the  finest  steel ;  and  their 
sledges,  which  once  were  pieces  of  whalebone  cunningly  tied 
together  to  form  runners,  were  now  of  the  best  ash  or  oak. 

Long  before  Peary  appeared  a  lively  bartering  with  the 
Scotch  whalers  certainly  took  place  ;  but  a  thing  like  a  gun  was 
a  great  rarity.  Commercial  intercourse  with  the  whalers  seems 
on  the  whole  to  have  been  very  casual,  and  one  may  therefore 
say  that  it  is  Peary  who  has  given  the  tribe  its  present  effective 
equipment  for  winning  a  livelihood.  Previous  to  the  intro- 
duction of  modern  weapons  it  was  obvious  that  the  Polar 
Eskimos  were  subjected  to  the  moods  of  the  varying  years. 
Their  own  simple  and  primitive  weapons  were  beautiful  and 
serviceable  inventions ;  but  the  handling  of  them  was  an  art, 
and  when  the  condition  of  weather  and  ice,  or  even  the  move- 
ments of  the  animals,  were  unfavourable,  it  happened  not 
rarely  that  they  had  to  face  bad  winters  through  which  they 
could  only  manage  to  exist  with  great  difficulty.  So  far  as 
their  livelihood  was  concerned,  Peary  developed  in  them  the 
white  man's  brain,  which  of  course  signified  great  progress  in 
their  material  existence. 

But  the  Eskimos  did  not  forget  to  repay  Peary  what  they 
thought  they  owed  him ;  on  his  last  two  voyages  to  the  North 
Pole  about  seventy  to  eighty  Eskimos — men,  women,  and 
children — with  several  hundreds  of  dogs,  accompanied  him  on 
the  Roosevelt  to  the  northern  point  of  Grant  Land.  In 
other  words,  this  included  all  the  best  young  men  in  the  tribe. 
And  can  anyone  think  of  a  more  serious  and  extensive  contribu- 
tion to  scientific  exploration  than  this  wholesale  sacrifice  of  the 
supremest  ? 

But  Peary  himself  possessed  qualities  which  made  it  possible 
for  him  to  come  to  such  an  arrangement  with  his  helpers.     His 

7 


GREENLAND    BY    THE    POLAR    SEA 

great  personal  endurance,  his  repeatedly  tested  fearlessness,  his 
capacity  to  manage  year  after  year  in  such  a  way  that  he  escaped 
well  from  it  all — all  this  won  the  unstinted  admiration  of  the 
Eskimos.  They  thought  it  good  fun  to  risk  something  with  a 
man  like  Peary — the  great  Peary  of  the  strong  will,  the  mighty 
lord  of  inexhaustible  wealth,  Piulerssuaq,  who  himself  will 
surely  some  day  be  the  hero  of  one  of  their  tribal  myths. 

During  my  meetings  with  the  Polar  Eskimos  I  have  often 
had  occasion  to  hear  them  speak  of  him  ;  and  they  have  always 
been  full  of  appreciation  and  proud  to  have  been  with  him,  even 
if  one  often  feels  that  their  respect  for  the  man  was  greater  than 
their  love.  I  will  recount  a  little  incident  which  was  told  me 
by  Odaq,  who  accompanied  Peary  on  all  his  Polar  travels. 

It  was  in  1906,  the  year  in  which  Peary  reached  87°  14'  and 
set  a  temporary  record  farthest  north.  Six  Eskimos  accom- 
panied him,  and  these  had  for  several  days  remonstrated  with 
him  that  they  would  have  to  turn  now  if  they  should  not  die 
from  starvation  on  the  return  journey ;  but  Peary  maintained 
obstinately  that  they  must  endure  for  a  while  longer.  They 
had  met  with  many  mishaps.  Open  water  had  delayed  them, 
and  terrible  blizzards  in  biting  cold  had  hindered  all  progress  ; 
but  as  soon  as  there  was  a  lull  in  the  storm  Peary  got  out  of  the 
snow-hut  and  made  his  way  northward,  always  northward,  into 
the  ill-famed  pressure-ice,  fighting  his  way,  clearing  a  path  for 
the  sledges  and  the  worn-out  dogs  which  followed,  driven  by  the 
Eskimos.  And  Peary  continued  his  slow  walk  against  the 
storm  with  the  sledges  snailing  behind  him.  Then  came  an 
evening  after  such  a  day  when  a  longing  for  land,  for  wife 
and  children  and  the  delicious  game  far  down  southward 
seized  the  young  hunters  so  strongly  that  they  could  see  only 
death  and  destruction  in  all  their  desperate  push  northwards. 
They  had  not  spoken  much  about  it ;  but  Odaq  thought  they 
looked  so  strangely  at  each  other ;  and  it  struck  him  that  none 
of  them  dared  to  mention  land  any  more.  He  could  bear  it 
no  longer,  and  went  into  the  snow-hut  where  Peary  lay  sleep- 
ing. "I  have  come  to  speak  to  you  for  my  comrades'  sake," 
he  said,  "for  further  progress  now  would  mean  death  for  all  of 
8 


THE    WHALERS'    FLEET,    1818 


THE  SAILING   SHIPS   BREAKING  through   THE    [CK    AT   THE   TIME   OF  JOHM    BOSS 


I 


RETURNING    KR01I    WALRUS    HUNTING,    THULE 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF   THE   ESKIMOS 

us,  and  I  know  that  you  will  not  turn.     Send  my  comrades     , 
back  ;  with  the  aid  of  the  compass  they  will  be  able  to  find  land, 
and  I  will  go  on  with  you  so  that  you  may  not  die  alone." 

And  Odaq  continued  : 
"  Then  Peary  looked  at  me  with  such  strange  sadness,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  for  the  first  time  in  all  the  days  I  had  travelled 
with  him  his  stern  eyes  looked  kind  ;  and  he  gave  me  a  slap  on 
the  shoulder  to  signify  that  he  understood  me,  and  answered  :  '  I 
am  glad,  Odaq,  for  what  you  have  said  ;  but  it  is  not  necessary. 
To-morrow  we  will  turn.  You  see,  Odaq,  neither  have  I  any 
desire  to  die  now,  for  another  time  I  shall  reach  the  goal  which 
I  must  now  give  up.'  " 

This  little  incident  seems  to  me  to  characterize  equally  well  i 
Peary  and  the  young  bear-hunter,  who  was  not  afraid  to  sacri- 
fice his  life  for  his  master's  kingly  aspirations. 

Otherwise  the  tales  one  hears  are  not  entirely  of  a  serious 
nature,  and  nothing  has  been  more  entertaining  to  me  during 
the  many  days  of  bad  weather,  both  in  winter  and  summer,  than 
sitting  listening  to  the  Eskimos'  tales  of  privation  and  danger, 
tales  which  now,  when  gone  through  in  memory,  always  end  in 
sheer  fun. 

"  Oh,  well,  that  was  when  we  were  forced  to  eat  our  dogs 
raw,  far  from  land,  right  out  on  the  ice,  while  our  enormous 
stores  of  meat  were  rotting  at  home  in  our  camps."  Little 
finishing  remarks  like  these  contain  all  their  wanton  self- 
mockery  ;  for  to  an  Eskimo  it  will  always  seem  monstrously 
funny  that  one  can  let  oneself  be  coaxed  into  leaving  land,  and 
go  out  into  the  cold  pressure-ice  of  the  Polar  Sea,  just  for 
the  sake  of  hewing  one's  ways  through  it,  with  death  hovering 
above  one  in  the  enormous,  white,  lifeless  desert. 

It  is  very  significant  of  the  open-air  spirit  of  the  Eskimos, 
and  of  the  mind  of  the  hunter  and  his  obstinate  ambition,  that 
a  man  who  could  look  upon  his  suffering  through  a  toilsome 
voyage  as  something  sensational,  would  immediately  be  made  a 
laughing-stock  among  his  countrymen.  When  one  has  decided 
on  the  hazards  of  a  journey,  one  must  take  everything  that 
occurs  like  a  man — that  is,  with  a  broad  grin.      I  have  even 

9 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

heard  old  Eskimos  tell  of  situations  wherein  they  were  in  danger 
of  death,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  audience  knotted  themselves 
with  laughter. 

It  may  be  that  in  this  matter  we  highly  civilized,  cultured 
beings  meet  a  quality  in  the  so-called  primitive  natives  — 
whom  otherwise  we  honour  with  all  our  gracious  superiority — 
a  mysterious  and  humorous  contempt  of  death  which  almost 
makes  the  ideas  danger  and  death  merge  into  one.  For  in- 
stance, consider  the  way  in  which  some  families,  which  during 
Peary's  last  expedition  but  one  had  remained  behind  near 
the  big  lakes  at  the  back  of  Fort  Conger,  managed  to  make  their 
way  home  all  the  distance  down  to  the  Cape  York  district. 
The  men,  some  with  a  team  of  two,  some  of  three,  dogs,  with- 
out provision  for  the  journey,  brought  their  wives  and  children 
the  hundred  miles'  long  journey  southward,  first  across  the 
Kennedy  channel  to  the  land,  continually  hunting  for  food  like 
beasts  of  prey  as  they  travelled.  Some  of  the  women  had  new- 
born babes  in  the  bags  on  their  back,  others  were  in  an  advanced 
stage  of  pregnancy,  whilst  others,  again,  gave  birth  to  their 
children  as  they  travelled  the  toilsome,  dangerous  way,  advanc- 
ing foot  by  foot,  pushing  and  pulling  the  sledges  along  down  to 
their  homes.  And  they  arrived  quite  unmoved  by  the  fight  for 
existence,  bubbling  with  merriment  as  never  before,  everyone 
from  the  oldest  down  to  the  youngest  babe  strutting  with  health. 

Anyone  looking  at  the  map  will  understand  the  magni- 
ficence of  this  deed.  The  hunters'  sagacity  and  the  constitution 
of  the  Eskimo  race  achieved  in  this  undertaking  one  of  their 
most  glorious  triumphs ;  it  is  a  leaf  out  of  the  history  of  Polar 
travelling  which  ought  to  be  known  by  everyone,  even  by  those 
to  whom  the  North  Pole  is  only  a  name. 

It  was  in  the  year  1907.  At  that  time  I  came  from  Elles- 
mere  Land  with  two  Eskimos,  when  outside  Cape  Inglefield 
we  ran  across  sledge  tracks  which  we  did  not  for  a  moment  doubt 
were  due  to  the  rearguard  of  Peary's  great  army  of  offence 
against  the  North  Pole.  Their  probable  fate  had  been  the  sub- 
ject of  discussion  among  the  tribe  throughout  the  winter.  We 
were  confronted  by  two  tracks — one  from  a  team  of  four  dogs, 
10 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF   THE   ESKIMOS 

the  other  from  a  team  of  two.  And  it  was  obvious  that  the 
dogs  must  have  been  quite  exhausted,  for  none  of  the  travellers 
had  been  able  to  ride  on  the  sledges.  We  saw  the  tracks  of 
two  men  and  two  women  ;  and,  between  these,  the  tiny  imprints 
of  children's  feet — children  of  at  most  five  or  six  years  of  age. 
The  tracks  came  from  Humboldt's  Glacier  and  pointed  down- 
ward to  Etah. 

"  Look,  the  little  ones  have  walked  that  long,  long  way," 
said  one  of  the  Eskimos  when  he  saw  the  children's  tracks. 

"Our  women  bear  strong  children  !"  cried  the  other  one, 
examining  the  tracks  as  he  ran. 

We  decided  to  turn  at  once  and  make  for  the  camp  at 
Anoritoq,  as  there  was  a  possibility  of  others  being  on  the  way 
and  in  the  vicinity.  It  was  impossible  to  tell  what  these  people 
might  have  suffered  and  in  what  condition  they  might  be.  In 
great  excitement  we  reached  our  destination.  No  one  was 
there.  Then  we  drove  back  again  and  on  to  Etah,  and  there  at 
last  we  found  them  :  two  families,  Odaq  with  his  wife,  a  little 
son  of  five  years,  and  a  baby-in-arms ;  Agpalinguaq  with  his 
wife,  a  small  daughter,  and  an  almost  new-born  babe. 

These  Arctic  travellers  all  looked  like  people  who  are  return- 
ing from  a  little  pleasure  trip,  well  fed  and  smilingly  healthy. 
The  women  and  the  little  ones  had  just  finished  a  walking  tour 
of  a  hundred  miles,  the  mothers  with  their  smallest  children  on 
their  backs,  and  all  of  them  had  for  more  than  a  month  been  a 
prey  to  the  cold  and  the  sweeping  blizzards  out  on  the  ice.  And 
if  a  blast  is  to  be  found  anywhere  in  Greenland  you  will  find  it 
by  Humboldt's  Glacier — a  blast  with  a  bite  in  it.  Another 
eight  families  were  still  on  the  way  ;  two  sledges  had  dropped  a 
little  behind  the  others,  delayed  because  the  women  that 
accompanied  them  gave  birth  to  their  children  whilst  travelling. 
They  told  us  in  this  manner,  quietly  and  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
without  any  attempt  to  be  sensational. 

But  never  in  my  life  as  an  Arctic  traveller  have  I  felt  smaller 
than  when  faced  by  these  child-bearing  women,  who  with  babes 
at  their  breasts  undertook  journeys  which  might  have  cost  many 
a  white  man  his  life. 

11 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 


THE   FIGHT   FOR   FOOD 

The  harsh  conditions  of  nature  which  force  the  Eskimos  into 
an  unending  fight  for  existence,  quickly  teach  him  to  take  hold 
of  life  with  a  practical  grip — i.e.,  in  order  to  live  I  must  first  of 
all  have  food !  And  as  he  finds  himself  in  the  happy  position 
that  his  form  of  livelihood — hunting — is  also  his  supreme 
passion,  one  is  justified  in  saying  that  he  leads  a  happy  life, 
content  with  the  portion  that  fate  has  allotted  to  him.  He  is 
born  with  the  qualities  necessary  for  the  winning  of  his  liveli- 
hood, and  the  skill  in  handling  the  tools,  which  later  on  makes 
a  master  of  him,  he  acquires  through  play  while  he  grows  up. 
On  the  day  when  he  can  measure  his  strength  with  that  of  the 
men,  he  takes  a  wife  and  enters  the  ranks  of  the  hunters. 

The  sledge  and  the  kayak  now  become  the  main  factors  on 
which  his  subsistence  depends.  But  whereas  the  sledge  is  used 
for  all  kinds  of  hunting  during  the  ten  months  of  the  year,  the 
severity  of  the  climate  makes  the  use  of  the  kayak  possible  only 
during  a  very  short  period  ;  for  the  summer  only  lasts  from  the 
end  of  July  until  the  first  days  of  September. 

As  a  rower  of  the  kayak  the  Polar  Eskimo  cannot  compete 
with  his  kinsman  from  South  Greenland.  His  kayak  is  large 
and  clumsy,  and  cannot  stand  a  rough  sea,  for  in  its  equipment 
it  lacks  both  the  half -jacket  and  the  whole-jacket  which  covers 
the  manhole ;  it  is  therefore  unable  to  set  out  in  all  kinds  of 
weather  without  danger  of  foundering. 

The  ocean  is,  however,  generally  full  of  ice-floes  which 
calm  the  waves,  and  there  is  not  very  often  a  chance  of  rowing 
in  a  high  sea. 

The  chief  weapon  of  the  kayak  is  the  harpoon  with  its  line 
and  bladder.  What  the  craft  lacks  in  seaworthiness  is  com- 
pensated for  by  the  astounding  skill  with  which  the  Polar 
Eskimo  gets  near  to  his  prey,  so  that  with  ease  and  without  the 
aid  of  a  throwing-stick  he  harpoons  his  prey  at  quite  close  range. 

The  animals  hunted  from  a  kayak  are  walrus,  narwhal,  white- 
whale,  bearded-seal  (Phoca  barbata),  and  ordinary  fjord-seal. 
12 


*■ 


Achtii*  Friia 


•/ 


TOBIAS    GABRIELSEN 


SIMON,   TUE   OLD   BBAR-HUNTBR 


AN    OLD    WANDERER    FR'iM     MELVILLE    BAY 


4'.  A.  Mueller 


ESKIMO    BOY    FROM    Ul'EKNIVIK 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF    THE   ESKIMOS 

Besides  hunting  on  the  sea,  there  is  also  extensive  bird- 
hunting.  The  whole  coast,  from  Cape  Melville  up  to  Etah,  is 
with  very  rare  intervals  the  breeding-ground  of  millions  of  Sea- 
kings,  which  herd  together  in  such  great  numbers  that  they  are 
easily  caught  in  ketches  from  hiding-places  between  the  stones. 

The  Sea-kings  are  small  birds  of  the  auk  family,  about  the 
size  of  a  starling  ;  they  generally  live  on  mountains  which  go 
right  out  into  the  sea,  and  here  they  gather  like  an  enormous 
floating  raft,  diving  and  tumbling  after  having  made  those  little 
trips  which  provide  them  with  food.  Their  breeding-places  lie 
on  the  even  slope  of  the  mountains,  where  they  make  all  stone- 
heaps  alive.  They  sit  in  close  flocks,  covering  the  stones,  and 
their  tuneful  chirping  and  merry  whistling  merge  into  one 
mighty  tone  which  makes  the  whole  landscape  resound.  And 
when  all  these  flocks  do  occasionally  lift  and  shoot  up  into  the 
air,  they  sweep  over  land  and  sea  like  a  tempest. 

This  little  bird  plays  an  important  part  in  the  household 
economy  of  the  Eskimos,  as  everybody  with  a  little  energy  can 
collect  here  a  winter-store  which  will  last  all  through  the  Polar 
night ;  and  the  soft  little  skins  can  be  made  into  underclothing 
which,  worn  next  to  the  skin,  is  warm  and  comfortable. 

Besides  the  Sea-kings  mountains  there  are  three  big  auk- 
mountains — two  by  Parker  Snow  Bay  and  one  by  Saunders 
Island.  Great  flocks  of  auks,  gulls,  black  guillemots,  and 
fulmars  hover  round  the  shelves  of  the  steep  fells,  and  the  meaty 
auk  particularly  is  caught  here  by  the  hundreds  in  ketchers  and 
put  away  for  the  dark  period  (October  1  to  February  1). 

Finally,  in  certain  districts,  the  eider-duck  gives  its  welcome 
contribution  to  the  household  stores  of  summer  and  autumn. 

The  great  abundance  of  Sea-kings  mentioned  above  is  also 
put  to  good  account  in  other  ways,  as  these  birds  attract  many 
blue  foxes  which  find  their  food  on  the  breeding-ground,  not 
merely  in  summer  but  during  a  great  part  of  the  winter  as  well ; 
for  the  wise  fox  thinks  not  only  of  to-day  :  he  also  collects  his 
store  for  the  winter,  especially  during  the  egg-laying  season  and 
before  the  young  are  able  to  fly.  During  visits  to  the  moun- 
tains it  is  not  unusual  to  see  a  fox  coming  along  very  carefully 

18 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

with  eggs  in  his  mouth,  and  by  following  him  one  may  discover 
quite  considerable  depots  covered  with  moss  and  turf. 

These  foxes  were  previously  caught  in  native  traps,  of  which 
several  different  types  existed ;  but  now  they  are  caught  in 
American  steel  traps. 

After  this  survey  of  the  chances  which  the  summer  offers, 
I  will  give  a  corresponding  summary  of  the  winter's  hunting. 

Already  by  the  end  of  September  the  ice  lies  on  fjord  and 
bay,  and  in  October  hunting  on  the  ice  begins.  If  the  ice  lies 
shiny  and  uncovered  by  snow  for  a  period,  a  rich  hunt  of  seals 
takes  place.  The  hunter  ties  a  piece  of  bear-skin  under  his  feet 
and  moves  along  the  ice  quite  noiselessly,  occasionally  stopping 
to  listen,  for  in  his  approach  to  the  seals  he  depends  solely  upon 
his  sense  of  sound.  When  the  seals  come  up  to  breathe  through 
the  holes  in  the  ice,  they  blow  so  loudly  that  they  can  be  heard 
a  considerable  distance.  The  hunter  now  moves  towards  the 
sound,  taking  great  care  to  move  only  when  the  seal  breathes. 
When  it  ceases  he  also  stops,  as  otherwise  it  would  hear  him. 
The  seal  as  a  rule  remains  by  its  breathing-hole  for  some  time  in 
order  to  store  as  much  air  as  possible  in  its  lungs  before  diving 
into  the  deeps  again,  and  thus,  by  taking  advantage  of  the  seal's 
respiration,  the  hunter  is  enabled  to  get  right  up  to  the  hole. 
He  then  harpoons  it  with  the  greatest  skill  through  an  orifice 
which  is  so  small  that  it  barely  allows  the  harpoon  to  pass 
through.  It  is  obvious  that  the  aim  must  be  a  sure  one.  But 
the  senses  of  the  Eskimo  are  so  keen  that  even  at  night  he  is 
able  to  spot  his  prey  and  kill  it  by  moonlight. 

This  way  of  catching  the  fjord-seal  and  the  bearded-seal 
yields  not  only  a  rich  catch  in  a  short  time,  but  is  also  con- 
sidered the  most  amusing  of  all  branches  of  hunting-sport. 

In  several  places  walrus  is  caught  on  the  new  ice,  and  in  this 
case  it  does  not  matter  whether  snow  has  fallen,  as  these  big 
animals  are  not  so  sensitive  as  the  seals. 

In  November  the  ice  between  Saunders  and  Westenholme 
islands  is  so  thin  as  to  allow  the  walrus  to  shove  its  skull  through 
it  when,  during  its  meal  of  mussels,  it  wants  to  breathe.  The 
Eskimos  then  sneak  towards  it  while  it  breathes,  and  no  sooner 
14 


- 
< 


Q 


Ill 

> 

< 


LIFE   AND    HISTORY   OF    THE   ESKIMOS 

is  it  harpooned  than  the  line  with  lightning  speed  is  fixed  in  the 
ice ;  the  walrus  is  now  tethered,  and  being  therefore  forced  to 
return  to  the  same  breathing-hole  every  time  it  draws  a  breath, 
it  is  killed  with  lances. 

In  the  autumn  the  walrus  is  fat  and  meaty,  and  the  yield  of 
the  catch  therefore  goes  much  farther  than  that  of  the  little 
seals.  And  this  has  its  importance  in  a  household  where  prac- 
tically every  means  of  finding  a  livelihood  must  be  abandoned 
for  the  better  part  of  the  winter,  and  where  must  be  fed  not 
only  the  people,  but  also  the  sledge-dogs,  of  which  a  single  man 
may  possess  over  a  score. 

The  type  of  hunting  which  the  Eskimo  values  above  all 
others,  however,  is  the  bear-hunt.  I  put  once  the  following 
question  to  an  elderly  man  : 

"  Tell  me  what  you  consider  the  greatest  happiness  of  your 
life." 

And  he  replied  : 

"  To  run  across  fresh  bear-tracks  and  be  ahead  of  all  other 
sledges." 

Scarcely  has  the  sun  and  the  light  returned  when  all  men, 
who  possess  meat  enough  to  leave  their  wives  and  children  alone 
at  home,  go  out  bear-hunting,  often  for  months,  defying  cold 
and  all  sorts  of  weather,  welcoming  snowdrifts  as  their  camps. 
The  southern  borders  of  these  bear-hunts  stretch  right  down  to 
Cape  Holm,  while  northward  Humboldt's  Glacier  is  often 
passed.  Finally,  many  of  them  cross  over  Smith  Sound  from 
Anoritoq  to  Pirn  Island,  and  follow  the  coast  of  Ellesmere 
Land  almost  as  far  down  as  Jones  Sound.  One  has  seen  on 
these  bear-hunts  old  men  with  white  hair,  men  who  during  their 
life  of  hunting  good  and  bad  have  experienced  everything  nature 
could  offer  them,  hunters  who  have  long  ago  forgotten  the  tally 
of  their  deeds ;  and  young  men,  half -grown  lads — all  of  them 
go  crazy  with  the  hunting-fever  as  soon  as  there  is  a  chance  of 
challenging  the  white  king  of  the  Polar  waste.  And  for  one 
single  harpoon  duel  all  the  resultless  and  evil  toil  which  pre- 
ceded this  supreme  moment  is  forgotten. 

The  track  of  a  bear,  and  far  in  the  distance  a  small  yellow 

1.5 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

blot  on  the  whiteness ;  and  then  the  good  bear-dogs  which  fly 
across  the  ice  like  a  tempest,  out-distancing  all  the  rest !  This 
is  one  of  the  culminating  points  in  life  which  every  young  Polar 
Eskimo  dreams  about. 

From  May  until  the  middle  of  July  is  the  period  during 
which  the  seals  crawl  up  on  the  ice  to  sun  themselves  and  laze 
about  in  spring  drowsiness.  Then  the  Eskimos  creep  up  close 
and  harpoon  them  before  they  can  pull  themselves  sufficiently 
together  to  wake  up  and  slide  down  under  the  ice  through  the 
breathing-holes.  If,  however,  it  so  happens  that  the  sleep  is 
light  and  the  animal  wakes  up,  every  hunter  knows  to  such  per- 
fection the  art  of  imitating  the  sounds  and  movements  of  the 
seal  that  the  animal  imagines  it  sees  a  comrade  lying  there, 
happy  in  the  warmth,  and  brushing  its  coat  on  the  snow.  The 
Eskimo  continues  his  tricky  advance,  and  the  alarmed  seal  soon 
lies  down  again,  to  continue  the  sleep  from  which  it  will  never 
awake. 

Previously  only  harpoon  and  line  were  employed  in  this 
work,  but  now  the  rifle,  and  the  stalking-sail  which  has  been 
imported  from  the  South  of  Greenland,  are  used.  This  stalk- 
ing-sail consists  of  a  cloth  of  white  skirting,  large  enough  to 
cover  a  creeping  man ;  it  is  fixed  to  a  small  sledge  which  the 
man,  lying  on  his  stomach,  can  push  in  front  of  him  together 
with  the  gun  until  he  is  within  shooting  distance. 

The  Utut-hunting,  as  they  call  the  method  described  above, 
gives  the  foundation  for  the  very  important  winter-stores,  which 
during  the  dark  period  free  them  from  cares. 

Of  the  land  game,  the  reindeer  was  of  great  importance 
before  the  time  of  the  Peary  Expeditions,  not  only  because  of 
their  meat,  but  also  for  the  sake  of  their  skins.  These  were  used 
both  for  coats  and  for  bedding.  Unfortunately  the  surround- 
ing land  is  not  extensive,  and  the  Eskimos  had  not  for  long  been 
possessors  of  American  magazine-guns  when  the  whole  stock 
was  exterminated.     At  present  one  very  rarely  sees  a  reindeer. 

Hares,  on  the  contrary,  are  plentiful  in  some  districts. 
The  flesh  is  considered  a  tit-bit,  and  the  skins  are  indispensable 
16 


ESKIMOS    DRINKING    COFFEE    IN    OLD    STYLE 


QINGMINKGARFIK    IN    IXGLEHELD    GULF    FROM    WHERE.    ACCORDING    To    HIE    l.sKIMos. 
ALL    WHITE    MEN    ORIGINATE 


LIFE   AND    HISTORY    OF    THE   ESKIMOS 

as  stocking-skins.     They  are  easily  hunted  both  with  gun  and 
snare. 

An  animal  which  does  not  exist  inside  the  Polar  Eskimo's 
own  territory,  but  which,  nevertheless,  within  the  latter  years 
has  played  an  important  part,  is  the  musk-ox.  Everywhere 
along  the  stretches  from  Humboldt's  Glacier  down  to  the  quite- 
narrow  strips  of  land  among  the  mountains  of  Cape  York,  one 
finds  their  bones,  but  no  person  now  living  can  give  any 
information  about  the  time  when  the  last  musk-ox  here  was 
slain. 

As  long  as  there  were  sufficient  reindeer  the  skin  of  the 
musk-ox  was  rejected  for  bedding,  being  awkward  to  use  and 
difficult  to  keep  clean  because  of  the  long  hairs  ;  even  now  bear- 
skins are  preferred,  and  are  looked  upon  as  the  finest,  most 
durable,  and  most  convenient.  Unfortunately,  everybody  is 
not  a  great  bear-hunter,  so  that  the  musk-ox  is  on  the  point  of 
being  considered  entirely  acceptable. 

Every  year  in  April  and  May  great  hunting  expeditions  for 
musk-ox  are  arranged,  preferably  through  Ellesmere  Landl 
to  Heiberg  Land.  These  expeditions  often  last  for  a  couplet 
of  months,  as  the  Eskimos  camp  on  the  killing-grounds  in 
order  to  dry  the  skins.  As  there  is  an  average  of  a  score  of 
hunters  each  season,  it  would  scarcely  be  too  high  to  estimate 
that  about  three  hundred  musk-oxen  yearly  must  bite  the  dust. 
It  is  deplorable  that  the  Eskimo's  lack  of  sense  for  limitation 
threatens  this  big  game  with  extinction  ;  but  the  danger  is  not 
an  immediate  one,  as  certain  flocks  in  these  regions  number 
upwards  of  two  hundred  animals,  which  make  a  big  mountain 
look  quite  alive — an  impressive  sight  never  to-be  forgotten  by 
one  who  has  seen  it. 

WOMEN    AND   CLOTHES 

The  Polar  Eskimo  begins  and  ends  his  life  travelling. 
Already  as  a  new-born  babe  he  follows  in  the  bag  on  his 
mother's  back  ;  nobody  considers  the  time  of  the  year,  and 
oft-times  the  whimpering  child  is  transported  across  wild 
glaciers  in  darkness  and  cold,  ending  the  toilsome  day  in  a 
B  17 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

cold,  newly  erected  hut  of  snow.  No  wonder  that  he,  or  she, 
frequently  becomes  crooked  with  rheumatism  at  an  early  age 
and  has  to  give  up.  This  rheumatism  is  a  legacy  of  all  those 
days  spent  in  snowdrifts  during  sudden  blizzards,  and 
serves  as  a  reminder  of  the  many  times  when  he  was  taken 
unawares  by  storms  during  the  hunting  of  reindeer  and  birds, 
and  for  weeks  had  to  put  up  with  a  damp  and  clammy  cave  in 
the  mountain. 

Against  this  background,  it  is  easy  to  understand  that 
nobody  has  paid  so  much  attention  as  have  these  people  to 
the  convenience  of  clothing.  The  climate  of  their  country 
demands  it,  and  it  is  an  absolute  condition  that  the  hunter  must 
be  clothed  fittingly.  So  the  task  of  the  woman  is  to  make  and 
mend  the  man's  clothes,  no  less  than  it  is  to  get  the  daily  food. 
It  is  not  without  reason  that  the  Polar  Eskimo  says  that  a  man, 
as  hunter,  is  what  his  wife  makes  of  him.  But  the  wife  also 
knows  how  highly  her  part  is  valued  by  the  man,  and  no  praise 
is  more  nattering  to  her  than  admiration  of  her  work.  As  luck 
will  have  it,  she  also  has  at  her  disposal  the  animals  which  yield 
the  warmest  fur  from  which  to  make  her  clothes.  Next  to  the 
skin  is  worn  a  light  and  soft  shirt,  made  out  of  birds'  skins,  the 
feathers  turned  inwards  ;  on  top  of  this  a  coat  of  sealskin,  with 
the  hairs  turned  out,  is  worn  during  spring,  summer,  and 
autumn  ;  in  winter-time  this  so-called  Netseq  is  exchanged  for 
a  coat  of  blue  fox,  also  with  the  hairs  turned  out ;  and  certainly 
this  is  the  lightest  and  warmest  costume  in  existence.  For 
trousers  the  men  use  bear-skins — a  kind  of  knickerbockers  that 
reach  just  below  the  knees.  Out  of  beautiful  white  frost- 
bleached  sealskins  without  hairs  they  make  boots  and  line  them 
with  hare-skin.  For  long  sledge  journeys  they  also  use  long- 
haired boots  made  from  the  skin  of  the  forelegs  of  the  bear,  or 
from  the  leg-skins  of  the  reindeer.  A  woman's  costume  is  not 
much  different  from  a  man's.  The  chief  difference  consists 
in  the  trousers  being  shorter  than  the  man's  and  made  out  of 
foxes'  skin  ;  the  boots  are  almost  as  long  as  the  legs.  The 
difference  in  coats  is  only  marked  by  a  variation  in  pattern,  or 
by  the  way  in  which  skins  of  different  hues  are  put  together. 
18 


ARNANGTJAQ 


ESKIMO    RETURNING    TO    HARUOCR 


/' 


'■- 


\ 


„ ,  **  •  - 


SKETCHES    BY    QUJAKITSTJNGUAQ 

Walrus  Reindeer  Musk-Ox 

Hare  Bear 

Gull  Raven 

Sea  King  Swimming  Bear 

Flocks  of  Musk-Ox  in  the  mountains 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF    THE    ESKIMOS 

The  fox  furs  are  seldom  brought  into  the  house,  but  are  kept 
outside  in  a  small  stone  cave.  Thus  the  somewhat  delicate 
skins  are  not  exposed  to  the  frequent  changes  in  temperature, 
which  would  rapidly  ruin  them.  The  house-dress  worn  in  the 
very  warm  houses  and  tents  is  reduced  to  boots  and  trousers, 
the  upper  part  of  the  body  being  naked — a  negligee  costume 
free  of  all  coquetry,  as  up  in  the  bunk  often  twenty  degrees 
(Cent.)  of  warmth  is  registered,  whilst  on  the  floor  you  will 
find  Zero  or  a  few  degrees  of  frost. 


HOUSES   AND   TENTS 

In  winter  the  habitations  consist  of  little  houses,  built  of 
large  flat  stones  and  with  domed  roofs  which,  with  great  archi- 
tectural cunning,  are  built  so  that  the  stones  carry  themselves 
without  support.  The  houses  as  a  rule  are  only  planned  for 
one  family.  A  low  and  very  long  passage  serves  as  entrance, 
and  through  this  one  creeps  into  the  living-room  itself,  entering 
from  below  through  a  narrow  opening.  In  spite  of  the 
primitive  arrangement  and  the  cramped  space,  the  impression 
given  by  these  huts  is  often  one  of  extraordinary  cosiness,  the 
walls  being  covered  with  light-coloured  sealskins.  The  stone 
sleeping-bench,  which  occupies  the  better  part  of  the  room,  is 
always  covered  with  a  thick  layer  of  fragrant  hay,  and  on  top 
of  this  a  rug  of  bear-skin  or  reindeer.  Light  and  warmth  are 
supplied  by  two  or  three  train-oil  lamps,  made  out  of  the  same- 
kind  of  stone  as  that  which  forms  the  walls  ;  with  their  long 
wicks  of  moss  these  lamps  generate  a  heat  fitting  to  the  Adam's 
costume  which  is  the  house-dress.  The  bench  is  seldom  larger 
than  to  allow  four  people  to  sit  next  to  each  other,  and  the  roof 
is  so  low  that  one  can  rarely  stand  erect.  Right  opposite  to 
the  entrance  there  is  a  window  of  gut  skins  stitched 
together.  In  the  middle  of  this  window  there  is  always  a  small, 
round  peep-hole.  In  the  roof  there  is  another  hole,  called  the 
"  nose  "  of  the  house,  through  which  the  bad  air  is  carried 
away. 

Beside  the  permanent  stone  winter-house,  there  is  also  a 

19 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

snow -house.  The  big  blocks  of  snow  which  constitute  the 
material  of  this  house  are  cut  out  of  the  hard  drifts  of  snow 
with  long  knives.  These  snow-houses  are  built  with  great  in- 
genuity. The  inside  arrangement  corresponds  to  that  of  the 
stone  houses,  skins  covering  walls  and  roof.  No  block-house 
in  the  world  can  compete  with  a  well-built  snow-house  as 
regards  warmth. 

The  short  summer  is  the  time  of  the  bracing  life  in  the 
tents ;  here  also  we  meet  with  the  roomy  stone  bench  which, 
with  all  its  paraphernalia,  makes  a  delicious  resting-place  for 
the  night.  The  skin  tents  consist  of  two  layers  of  sealskins  on 
top  of  each  other ;  they  can  therefore  with  ease  resist  the  rain 
under  all  conditions.  Here  also  are  burning  blubber  lamps 
which  give  to  the  tent  such  a  temperature  that  one  can  live  in 
it  until,  by  the  end  of  September,  winter  supersedes  autumn. 


PLACES   OF   HABITATION   WHICH    ARE    CHRISTENED 
BY   THE    WIND 

The  permanent  camps  reach  from  Cape  Seddon  in  Mel- 
ville Bay  right  up  to  Humboldt's  Glacier.  As  the  tribe 
consists  of  so  few  individuals,  there  is  plenty  of  elbow  room  for 
the  hunters,  and  at  the  same  time  the  game  is  given  an  excellent 
chance  of  renewal  and  breeding.  For  this  little  handful  of 
hunters  is  distributed  over  a  stretch  of  800  kilometres. 

The  Polar  Eskimos  themselves  classify  their  places  of 
habitation  according  to  the  wind  in  the  following  districts  : 

Nigerdlit :    Those  who  live  nearest  to  the  south-west 

wind. 
Akunarmiut :  Those  who  live  between  the  winds. 
Orqordlit :  Those  who  live  in  the  lee  of  the  south-west 

wind. 
Avangnardlit :  Those  who  live  next  to  the  north  wind. 

By  Nigeq  they  do  not  mean  merely  the  south-west  wind 
itself.  Here  is  included  also  the  mild  Fohn-w'md,  which  comes 
20 


'J — 


HAKl'OoMNG    A    WALRUS    FKOll    A    KAYAK 


ESKIMOS    GOING    OUT    ON    TUE    NEW    ICE    TO    BUNT    WALRUS 


>    -. 


HARl-ooNING    WALRUS 


WALRUS    BEING    PULLED    HP    BY    TUE    AID    OK    PRIMITIVE    TACKLE    INVENTED    HY    THE    ESKIMOS 

Skrtdui  6>  A 


c  ^ 

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^^^Jta^^ 

^^-\\\\\\\\\ 

t*i 

~        > 

LIFE   AND    HISTORY    OF    THE    ESKIMOS 

from  the  inland-ice  with  great  suddenness  and  in  an  instant 
produces  a  positive  temperature  in  the  middle  of  the  coldest 
winter.    I  will  give  an  example  : 

Once,  at  the  end  of  January,  after  a  journey  across  Melville 
Bay,  we  drove  in  a  party  of  twenty  sledges  along  the  land  south 
of  the  Petowik  Glacier  on  our  way  to  Thule.  The  weather  was 
good,  and  as  the  day's  journey  consequently  had  been  a  very 
long  one,  I  felt  somewhat  tired  and  stretched  myself  on  the 
sledge  to  take  a  little  nap,  whilst  a  boy  who  accompanied  me 
drove  the  dogs.  Just  before  my  eyes  closed  I  noticed  a  swirl 
above  some  doughs  near  the  inland-ice,  but  as  there  were  no 
other  signs  of  bad  weather  on  the  sky,  none  of  us  paid  any 
particular  attention  to  it. 

My  doze  could  not  have  lasted  more  than  five  minutes  when 
I  was  awakened  in  the  most  brutal  manner,  being,  as  by  a 
mighty  grip,  lifted  up  from  the  sledge  and  flung  out  on  the  ice. 
I  received  so  violent  a  blow  in  the  back  that  I  was  unable  to  get 
up  for  a  moment,  but  when  at  last  I  succeeded  in  rising  to  my 
knees,  I  saw  that  all  the  many  sledges  which  a  moment  ago 
had  driven  in  a  long  string  one  behind  the  other,  were  swept 
together  into  one  huge  pile,  like  wooden  shavings  blown  to- 
gether by  a  breath  of  wind.  With  such  suddenness  and  force 
the  Fd/m-wind  had  sent  out  its  first  squalls  as  forerunners  of 
the  storm  which  was  coming.  As  it  was  quite  impossible  to 
stand  upright,  not  to  mention  driving,  we  let  ourselves  be  blown 
up  on  land  with  sledges  and  dogs,  until  we  found  some  little 
shelter  in  a  clough  by  a  broad  tongue  of  ice  where  the  sledges 
could  be  anchored  and  the  dogs  tethered.  Hardly  was  this  done 
when  the  Fohn,  with  the  roar  of  a  hurricane,  swept  down  upon 
us  from  the  mountains  and  the  inland-ice  and  made  us  suspect 
that  the  world  itself  was  going  under.  It  pressed  its  enormous 
weight  down  on  the  thick  winter  ice  with  such  violence  that  the 
waves  immediately  burst  up  through  the  belt  of  the  tidal  waters. 
Half  an  hour  later  we  saw  through  the  darkness  huge  fissures  in 
the  ice,  frothing  white,  and  a  few  hours  after  the  outbreak  there 
was  open  sea  where  shortly  before  we  had  driven  our  sledges. 

Altogether,  one  can  understand  the  important  role  played 

21 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

by  the  wind  in  the  lives  of  a  hunting  people  whose  subsistence 
depends  entirely  upon  the  sea. 

The  south-west  wind  decides  the  fate  of  the  summer  ;  for  if 
it  blows  too  frequently  Melville  Bay  and  all  the  north-west 
coast  is  filled  with  pack-ice,  which  gives  rise  to  raw  weather  and 
poor  hunting.  The  only  beneficent  act  performed  by  this  wind 
is  in  the  autumn,  when  it  not  only  makes  the  ice  settle  early, 
but  also  carries  a  lot  of  ice-bears  on  flakes  from  Baffin  Bay  in 
towards  the  land. 

All  camps  from  Cape  York  southward  range  under 
Nigerdlit.  The  mainstay  in  these  places  is  the  seal,  but  first 
of  all  it  is  the  many  bears  in  Melville  Bay  which  lure  people 
up  here. 

The  Cape  York  district  has  no  real  summer  ;  if  now  and  then 
one  crosses  a  glacier,  winter  hunting  is  possible  all  through  the 
twelve  months  of  the  year.  The  scarcity  of  open  water  is 
responsible  for  poor  hunting  with  kayaks  and  small  winter- 
stores.  The  little  Sea-kings  are  therefore  a  boon ;  and  they 
are  found  in  millions  in  the  mountains  hereabout.  For  the 
winter-store  they  are  preserved  in  a  peculiar  way.  During 
May  and  June  they  are  pickled  whole,  feathers  and  all,  in  big, 
newly-flayed  sealskins  stripped  whole  from  the  seal,  so  that  only 
a  small  opening  remains  near  head  and  back  flappers,  and  this 
can  easily  be  drawn  together.  As  soon  as  this  skin  is  filled  it  is 
covered  securely  with  stones  so  that  the  rays  of  the  sun  cannot 
reach  it,  as  this  would  give  the  meat  a  bitter  taste.  The  birds 
now  slightly  decay,  and  at  the  same  time  the  blubber  from  the 
skin  permeates  the  flesh.  This  dish,  which  is  looked  upon  as  an 
extraordinarily  delicate  morsel,  is  offered  to  all  guests  during 
winter  as  the  best  thing  one  can  give  to  friends. 

Even  if  there  is  some  lack  of  meat  here,  there  are  other 
things  which,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
south-west,  make  this  district  preferable. 

There  is  an  abundance  of  blue  fox,  so  that  the  people  here, 
besides  being  able  to  procure  pelts  to  excess,  also  have  many 
"sale-foxes  "  for  disposal.  Then  there  are  the  bear-skins,  which 
give  warm  trousers  and  lovely  rugs  for  the  bunks,  and  bring  in 
22 


w 


Drawn  by  Q<ii'<jui8ianguaq 
SEAL   BEING    HARPOONED    AS    IT    COMES    UP   TO    ITS    BREATHING-HOLE 


<a3> 


twss*""*'' 


<4 


0&* 


-< 


KILLED    MUSK-OXEN    BEING    SKINNED  :     TO   THE    LEFT    SLEDGE    WITH    DOGS 


POLAR   ESKIMOS    DRESSED   IN    FOX    FUR    COATS 


LIFE   AND    HISTORY   OF    THE    ESKIMOS 

some  cash  as  well.  The  inhabitants  glory  in  exciting  hunting 
experiences  all  the  year  round,  and  to  meet  a  Cape  Yorker  is 
nearly  always  to  he  counted  as  an  adventure. 

All  this  imparts  to  them  a  certain  nimbus  ;  but  people  from 
the  sheltered  side,  who  do  not  wish  to  seem  inferior,  will  as  a 
rule  only  admit  that  the  Cape  Yorkers  may  have  the  best  clothes 
and  the  warmest  bunk-rugs  in  all  the  district,  "but,"  they 
add,  ''their  houses  are  cold,  for  they  have  only  seal-blubber  to 
put  into  their  lamps  ;  their  dogs  are  lean  and  have  ugly  pelts 
because  they  are  not  fed  on  the  meat  of  the  walrus  and  nar- 
whal ;  and  finally,  in  spite  of  all  their  cleverness,  they  are  very 
fond  of  coming  up  to  our  well-filled  meat  stores  to  feed  up  their 
dogs,  and  themselves  eat  their  fill  in  Mataq  when,  during  the 
dark  period,  short  commons  is  the  order  of  the  day." 

Akunarmiut  comprises  the  district  round  the  present  Thule. 
The  chief  means  of  livelihood  here  is  the  hunting  of  walrus,  but 
seals  and  narwhals  as  well  are  killed  in  abundance. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  for  subsistence  here  that 
the  ice  between  Saunders  Island  and  Dalrymple  Rock  settles 
evenly  in  the  end  of  October  and  the  beginning  of  November  ; 
for  then  the  walrus  remain  for  a  long  period  by  their  breathing- 
holes,  which  they  break  with  their  skulls. 

This  hunting  season  is  a  beautiful  and  exciting  time,  with 
races  from  morning  till  night.  The  point  is  to  be  the  first  one 
with  the  sledge  on  the  hunting-grounds,  wherefore  one  may 
see,  early  in  the  morning,  or  rather  in  the  night,  one  sledge 
after  another  shoot  across  the  ice  like  a  swift  bird  flying  out  into 
darkness.  It  would  not  do  to  make  up  large  parties,  as  this 
gives  small  shares  of  the  catch,  so  one  spreads  out  as  much  as 
possible  ;  and  in  the  white  darkness  are  discerned  the  contours 
of  many  fur-clad  hunters  distributed  along  the  ice,  with  harpoon 
and  line  under  their  arms  ready  to  take  their  chances.  When 
a  walrus  has  been  harpooned,  one  sees  the  many  bear-trousered, 
faun-like  figures  rushing  up,  joyful  in  the  capture,  to  take  their 
share  in  the  division  of  the  catch.  The  heavy  animal  is  pulled 
up  on  the  ice  without  difficulty  by  the  aid  of  primitive  tackle 
fixed  in  the  ice. 

23 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

Unfortunately  this  hunting  of  walrus  often  fails,  and  this 
district  is  therefore  not  reckoned  as  a  good  food-provider. 

Orqordlit,  or  the  lee-side  inhabitants,  encompass  the  whole 
district  around  the  great  Inglefield  Gulf.  Many  camps  are  to 
be  found  here,  where  the  hunting  conditions  everywhere  are  so 
brilliant  that  meat  is  always  to  be  had  in  superfluity.  In  the 
mouth  of  the  fjord  there  is  an  excellent  run  of  walrus  all  through 
the  summer,  on  the  new  ice  in  the  autumn,  and  during  the  light 
time  in  March.  When  frozen  sea,  after  being  opened  by  a 
storm,  freezes  again,  hunting  like  that  described  above  takes 
place  here. 

Besides  walrus,  there  is  also  a  large  and  persistent  shoaling 
of  narwhal  and  white-whale,  which  are  hunted  from  kayaks. 
These  large,  meaty  animals  provide  substantial  winter  depots 
for  the  lee-side  inhabitants. 

The  rich  blubber  from  narwhal  and  white-whale  yields,  as 
is  well  known,  far  more  light  and  warmth  than  that  from  seal 
and  walrus,  and  these  districts  are  justified  in  boasting  of  the 
fact  that  they  possess  the  largest  and  warmest  houses.  Their 
kennels  are  abundantly  stocked,  and  the  dogs  are  fat  with  shiny 
coats.  Foxes,  however,  are  scarce  in  some  districts,  and  the 
Sea-king  is  only  to  be  found  near  Kiatak,  Igdluluarssuit,  and 
Neqe.  But  the  climate  during  the  autumn  is  far  drier  here  than 
farther  southward,  and  one  can  practically  always  reckon  on  a 
long  ice-hunting  period  which  goes  to  swell  the  meat  stores  still 
further. 

The  only  thing  really  scarce  is  bear-skin,  which  is  rightly 
considered  indispensable.  Without  warm  bear-skin  trousers  it 
would  be  impossible  to  undertake  long  journeys  in  winter-time, 
and  where  there  is  no  bear-hunting  there  will  be  no  proper 
bunk-rugs  to  lie  on  either.  The  hunters  on  the  windward  side 
therefore  characterize  the  lee-side  inhabitants,  with  some 
malice,  as  kitchen-hunters  who,  in  spite  of  their  wealth  of  meat 
and  their  fat  dogs,  have  to  trade  for  bear-skin  with  the  real 
hunters. 

Avangnardlit,  or  those  who  live  next  to  the  north  wind, 
includes  the  camps  of  Etah  and  Anoritoq.  The  conditions  at 
24 


A— Sleeping-bench. 
B— Side-bench  for  meat. 

'        Stone  !.nii|>s. 
1'     l-'lait ■■.lime  Hour. 

'■     Cnsidi  il stones 

I''     '  'oteide   foundation  stone: 

G — Turf. 

H     Space  above  bench. 


°^X 


co~:oc^ 


I — Entrance. 

J  —  Box  of  meat. 
K — Woman  knife. 
h — Gnt-akin  window. 
M — Cooking  pan. 
O— Air  hole. 
P— Drying  shelves. 
R— Space  beneath  the  bench 


polar  Eskimos'  house 


A, 


> 


ASARPAKA 


K  IOSSALUK 


BEARDED    SEAL 
(Phoca  barbata) 


KILLED    NARWHAL 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY    OF    THE    ESKIMOS 

Etah  are  excellent  for  walrus  hunting,  and  at  the  same  time 
this  spot  is  one  huge  singing  mountain  where  the  Sea-kings 
live.  These  are  not  to  be  found  by  Anoritoq,  but  as  compensa- 
tion there  are  there,  besides  walrus,  excellent  drives  of  nar- 
whal. Wherever  these  are  killed  they  put  their  stamp  on  the 
indoor  life  of  the  winter.  In  both  places  there  is  excellent  bear- 
hunting  to  the  north  and  west,  and  conditions  of  life  here 
correspond  in  every  way  to  those  in  the  south-west.  There  is 
wind  in  abundance,  not  from  the  south-west,  but  from  north 
and  north-east,  and  it  often  blows  with  enormous  violence. 
Contrary  to  the  south-west  wind,  however,  it  sweeps  the  coast 
clean  of  snow,  and  is  therefore  the  wind  one  especially  hopes 
for  at  the  time  when  the  ships  are  expected. 


A    WANDERING   PEOPLE 

We  have  now  dealt  with  camps  within  the  district,  but  one 
must  not  regard  the  Polar  Eskimos  as  fixed  settlers,  for  in  all 
the  world  one  can  scarcely  find  a  people  who  lead  a  more 
nomadic  life.  The  stone  houses  built  by  ancestors  long  for- 
gotten merely  stand  along  the  coast ;  for,  as  the  material  is 
stone,  the  tooth  of  time  does  not  tear  them.  It  requires  only 
a  minor  reparation  before  a  stranger  may  move  into  such  a 
house  when  it  has  been  aired  all  through  spring  and  summer. 

No  Polar  Eskimo  will  live  for  more  than  a  year  or  two  in 
one  place ;  then  his  longing  to  get  into  new  conditions  and  to 
hunt  on  new  ground  awakes.  With  every  spring  comes  the 
wander-lust,  and  when  Nature  itself  shakes  the  yoke  of  winter 
from  its  shoulders  the  desire  arises  to  strike  camp  and  follow 
the  many  birds  of  migration  which  herald  summer's  arrival. 

The  removal  is  in  reality  nothing  but  a  change  of  houses  on 
a  grand  scale.  Just  as  nobody  owns  the  seal  in  the  sea  and  the 
reindeer  on  land,  so  it  follows  that  nobody  has  a  right  to  possess 
a  house.  When  Pualuna  moves  out  of  it  to  seek  another  place 
it  is  no  longer  his,  and  if  Maja  chooses  this  place  of  abode  he 
may  quite  calmly  move  in. 

All  the  excitement  that  accompanies  the  decision  that  must 

25 


GREENLAND    BY    THE    POLAR    SEA 

be  taken  nearly  every  spring  as  to  where  one  intends  to  hunt 
the  following  winter,  and  all  the  merry  moods  of  camp-striking 
which  seize  on  everybody,  find  their  expression  in  a  shout  of 
liberation  resounding  through  the  whole  country  which,  for 
many  months,  has  been  bound  in  cold  and  darkness. 

It  generally  happens  that  those  who  live  on  the  south-west 
side,  or  nearest  to  the  north  wind,  move  to  the  lee-side  camps 
to  spend  a  couple  of  years  in  abundance,  in  peace  and  quietness 
acquiring  new  dogs.  Many  a  confirmed  lee-side  inhabitant  will 
go  northward  or  southward  in  order  to  find  bunk-rugs  and 
blazing  white  bear  trousers.  Thus  these  peoples'  lives  are  based 
on  an  ingenious  training  for  the  finding  of  a  means  of  livelihood, 
a  training  so  well  adapted  to  meet  the  demands  of  their  harsh 
country  that  the  civilization  built  upon  it  makes  of  the  Polar 
Eskimos  the  most  care-free  people  in  the  world.  Nowhere  else 
can  one  live,  as  one  does  here,  in  such  a  state  of  practical  and 
simple  communism  which  gives  equal  rights  and  equal  chances 
to  everybody.  One  has  tried  to  counter-balance  even  the  fickle- 
ness of  fortune  by  dividing  all  the  larger  animals  into  pieces 
which  are  distributed  to  everybody  who,  during  the  hunt,  has 
not  had  the  luck  to  be  the  first  to  harpoon,  say,  a  narwhal. 
By  this  distributive  arrangement  every  hunter  is  entitled  to 
meat  if  only  he  will  keep  in  the  vicinity  of  the  one  who  kills  the 
quarry.  This  seems  to  be  the  result  of  humane  sentiments 
developed  during  the  fight  for  existence  against  niggard 
Nature. 

There  is  yet  another  point.  Men  are  not  all  born  equally 
strong  and  supple,  and  it  is  generally  only  a  select  few  who  are 
able  to  avail  themselves  of  the  chance  to  throw  the  first  harpoon 
into  an  unwounded  animal.  But  if  once  the  animal  has  got  the 
huge  bladder  with  its  heavy  trailer  dragging  behind  it  through 
the  water,  even  the  mediocre  hunter  can  take  part  in  the  kill. 
It  is  for  this  work  that  he  receives  his  just  and  generous  part  of 
the  booty.  For  the  maintaining  of  one's  position  as  a  bread- 
winner in  this  community  one  thing  only  is  required — this  is 
industriousness.  The  lazy  man  who  will  not  take  up  his  share 
of  the  work  must  go  his  own  way. 
26 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF   THE    ESKIMOS 

Is  it  possible  in  any  community  to  get  closer  to  the  ideal 
than  this,  that  the  only  reason  for  poverty  is  laziness? 

The  Eskimos  thus  live  merrily  together,  treating  their 
women  and  children  kindly  ;  and  the  families  are  bound  to 
each  other  with  bonds  of  affection,  often  manifested  in  a 
striking  manner. 

PRIMITIVE    VIEWS   OF   LIFE 

It  would  not  be  possible  to  finish  even  the  shortest  sketch 
of  the  Polar  Eskimos  without  briefly  mentioning  their  peculiar 
and  primitive  views  of  life. 

The  Polar  Eskimos  do  not  believe  in  a  God  to  whom  one 
must  pray,  but  they  have  as  a  foundation  for  their  religious 
ideas  a  series  of  epic  myths  and  traditional  conventions,  which 
are  considered  an  inheritance  from  the  very  oldest  time.  In 
these  their  ancestors  laid  down  all  their  wealth  of  experience, 
so  that  those  who  came  after  might  not  make  the  same  mistakes 
and  harbour  the  same  erroneous  notions  as  did  they  themselves. 

The  myths,  which  are  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation  by  the  oldest  to  the  youngest  within  the  community, 
are  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  saga  of  the  Inuit  people.  These 
myths  are  partly  simple  narratives,  partly  a  warning  against 
those  who  will  not  submit  to  the  demands  of  tradition,  and  for 
the  rest  they  are  tales  of  heroes  who  in  every  possible  danger 
acquitted  themselves  in  such  a  way  that  they  are  held  up  as 
glorious  examples  for  coming  generations. 

Osarqaq,  a  wise  and  intelligent  man,  once  defined  to  me 
their  own  conception  in  the  following  words:  "Our  tales  are 
narratives  of  human  experience,  and  therefore  they  do  not 
always  tell  of  beautiful  things.  But  one  cannot  both  embellish 
a  tale  to  please  the  hearer  and  at  the  same  time  keep  to  the 
truth.  The  tongue  should  be  the  echo  of  that  which  must  be 
told,  and  it  cannot  be  adapted  according  to  the  moods  and  the 
tastes  of  man.  The  word  of  the  new-born  is  not  to  be  trusted, 
but  the  experiences  of  the  ancients  contain  truth.  Therefore, 
when  we  tell  our  myths,  we  do  not  speak  for  ourselves  ;  it  is  the 
wisdom  of  the  fathers  which  speaks  through  us." 

27 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

As  an  example  of  these  myths,  I  will  recount  one  which 
relates  of  "  the  time  long,  long  ago  when  man  was  created." 
With  its  grotesque  forcefulness  and  deep  originality  it  serves 
as  a  good  example  of  Eskimo  imagination.  I  translate  it  here 
as  literally  as  possible  from  the  dictation  of  an  old  Eskimo 
woman  called  Arnaruluk. 

' '  Our  ancestors  often  spoke  about  the  creation  of  earth  and 
man  in  the  time  of  long,  long  ago.  They  did  not  understand 
how  to  hide  words  in  written  signs  like  you  do  ;  they  could  only 
speak,  the  men  that  lived  before  us.  They  spoke  about  many 
things,  and  therefore  we  are  not  ignorant  in  these  matters  which 
we  have  heard  mentioned  time  after  time  ever  since  we  were 
little  ones. 

"  Old  women  do  not  carelessly  waste  words,  therefore  we 
believe  them.    Age  does  not  tell  lies. 

"  At  that  time,  long,  long  ago,  when  earth  was  to  be,  it 
fell  down  from  above  ;  soil,  mountains,  and  stones  fell  from  the 
sky.    Thus  earth  was. 

"  After  earth  was  created  came  men.  It  is  told  that  men 
came  from  the  soil.  Little  children  came  out  of  the  earth  ;  they 
came  forth  between  willows,  covered  with  willow  leaves.  And 
they  lay  sprawling  between  the  dwarf  bushes  with  closed  eyes, 
for  they  could  not  even  crawl.    The  soil  gave  them  their  food. 

"It  is  next  told  about  a  man  and  a  woman.  The  woman 
makes  children's  clothes  and  wanders  over  the  soil,  where  she 
finds  little  children  ;  and  she  dresses  them  and  brings  them 
home. 

"  Thus  two  became  many. 

"And  when  they  were  many  they  wanted  dogs.  And  a 
man  went  out  with  a  dog's  harness  in  his  hand,  stamping  the 
ground  whilst  he  called  "Hok — hok,  hok!'  Then  the  dogs 
poured  forth  from  mounds,  tiny  mounds  ;  and  they  shook  them- 
selves, for  they  were  full  of  sand.    Thus  man  got  his  dogs. 

"  But  the  men  increased,  they  became  more  and  more. 
They  did  not  know  death  that  time  long,  long  ago  ;  and  they 
grew  very  old.     At  last  they  could  walk  no  longer ;  they  grew 
blind  and  had  to  lie  down. 
28 


WALEUS   HREAKINU  THE   SURFACE   OF   THE    SEA 


LIFE   AND   HISTORY   OF   THE   ESKIMOS 

"Neither  did  they  know  the  sun;  they  lived  in  darkness; 
day  never  dawned.  Only  in  the  houses  had  they  light.  They 
burned  water  in  their  lamps,  for  at  that  time  water  could  burn. 
But  the  people  who  did  not  understand  how  to  die  became  far 
too  many  ;  they  overcrowded  the  earth — and  then  a  mighty 
flood  came.  Many  were  drowned,  and  there  were  thus  fewer 
people.  On  high  mountain-tops  where  often  we  find  mussels 
we  see  the  traces  of  this  flood. 

"  Now  the  people  were  fewer  two  old  women  began  to  talk. 
'  Let  us  be  without  day,'  one  of  them  said,  '  if  at  the  same  time 
we  may  be  without  death  ! '    I  think  she  was  afraid  of  death. 

"  'No,'  said  the  other  one,  'we  will  have  both  light  and 
death.'  And  as  the  old  woman  had  spoken  these  words  so  it 
came  to  pass. 

"  Light  came,  and  joy  and  death. 

"It  is  told  that  when  the  first  man  died  the  corpse  was 
covered  with  stones.  But  the  corpse  returned — it  did  not 
understand  quite  how  to  die.  It  put  its  head  up  from  the 
stones,  wanting  to  get  up.  But  an  old  woman  pushed  it  back 
again. 

"'We  have  sufficient  to  drag  and  our  sledges  are  small,' 
she  said. 

' '  For  they  were  on  the  point  of  breaking  camp  to  go 
hunting.  So  the  dead  man  had  to  return  to  his  mound  of 
stones. 

"Now,  when  the  people  had  light  they  were  able  to  go  out 
hunting,  and  were  no  longer  forced  to  eat  from  the  soil.  And 
with  death  came  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars. 

"  For  when  the  people  die  they  rise  to  the  sky  and  become 
radiant." 

The  rules,  which  played  an  important  part  before  the  time 
of  the  mission,  can  be  compared  to  a  collection  of  unwritten 
laws  which  tell  men  what,  under  certain  conditions,  they  must 
observe  and  conform  to.  As  with  most  primitive  peoples,  these 
rules  relate  especially  to  birth  and  death. 

All  these  rules  of  life,  which,  perhaps,  seem  unreasonable 

29 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

and  childish  to  us,  were  maintained  with  much  authority  by 
the  necromancers.  These  correspond  to  the  medicine-men  of 
other  primitive  peoples  ;  they  are  in  a  position  to  act  as  middle- 
men between  man  and  the  powers  that  meddle  with  life.  This 
they  are  able  to  do  because  they  have  knowledge  of  and  inti- 
macies with  things  which  are  hidden  from  ordinary  mortals. 
Therefore,  it  is  not  everybody  who  may  be  a  necromancer,  for 
it  is  not  everybody  whom  the  spirits  will  serve.  A  man  must 
have  a  vocation,  and  very  special  abilities  are  required,  which 
are  developed  in  the  great  loneliness  of  the  mountains  far  away 
from  people.  Nature  is  imagined  to  be  full  of  invisible  beings 
with  supernatural  powers  and  abilities,  the  so-called  Tornarssuit. 
But  the  necromancers  have  the  power  to  subject  these  beings 
to  their  will  to  such  an  extent  that  they  can  employ  them  as 
"ministering  spirits,"  which  are  invoked  under  the  observance 
of  secret  ceremonies,  preferably  with  extinguished  lamps  and  to 
the  accompaniment  of  a  weird  and  gripping  ghostly  chant. 

These  necromancers  are  not  frauds  and  charlatans,  as  one 
has  so  often  been  disposed  to  presume,  but  as  children  of  their 
day  they  themselves  have  implicit  faith  in  the  seriousness  of 
their  mission.  Their  significance  is  based  on  the  fact  that  the 
primitive  religion  lacks  the  worship  of  a  deity  ;  thus  the  weak 
and  timid  find  a  refuge  with  the  one  who  understands  how  to 
master  the  mystic  forces  of  Nature,  forces  easily  offended  and 
dangerous  in  wrath. 

The  following  may  serve  as  an  example  of  the  rules  : 

Those  who  have  been  engaged  in  burying  the  dead  must 
keep  quiet  within  their  houses  and  tents  for  five  days.  During 
this  period  they  must  not  prepare  their  own  food  or  divide  up 
the  cooked  meat.  They  must  not  take  off  their  clothes  during 
the  night  or  push  back  from  their  heads  the  fur  hoods.  When 
the  five  days  have  elapsed  they  must  carefully  wash  hands  and 
body  to  rid  themselves  from  the  uncleanness  which  they  have 
contracted  from  the  dead.  The  Eskimos  themselves  give  the 
following  explanation  of  the  reason  for  observing  this  rule  : 

"  We  are  afraid  of  the  big  evil  power  which  strikes  down 
men  with  disease  and  other  misfortunes.  Men  must  do  penitence 
30 


THE    BKAUTIFUL   ISIGAITSOQ 


ESKIMO    1»>\ 


ESKIMO    OIBL 


/ 


IXUTEQ 


AJORSSALIK 


KALE  S    GKAVE 


LIFE   AND    HISTORY    OF    THE    ESKIMOS 

because  in  the  dead  the  sap  is  strong,  and  their  power  is  without 
limit.  We  believe  that,  it'  we  paid  no  attention  to  thai  over 
which  we  ourselves  are  not  masters,  huge  avalanches  of  stones 
would  come  down  and  crush  us,  that  enormous  snowstorms 
would  spring  up  to  destroy  us,  and  that  the  ocean  would  rise  in 
huge  waves  whilst  we  were  in  our  kayaks  far  out  at  sea."  But 
one  may  also  acquire  additional  strength  through  one's  life  and 
increased  powers  to  resist  danger,  with  good  fortune  in  all 
matters  of  chance,  by  using  amulets  and  magic  formula'. 

The  amulet  is  a  protector  against  danger,  and  imparts  to  its 
owner  certain  qualities ;  under  certain  conditions  it  may  even 
change  him  from  man  into  the  animal  from  which  the  substance 
of  his  amulet  is  derived.  An  amulet  of  a  bear  which  was  not 
slain  by  human  hands  renders  the  owner  immune  from  wounds  ; 
a  part  of  a  falcon  gives  certainty  in  the  kill ;  the  raven  makes 
one  content  with  little  ;  the  fox  imparts  cunning.  Often  the 
Eskimos  wear  a  Poroq  of  a  stone  from  a  fireplace,  because  this 
has  been  stronger  than  the  fire ;  or  they  smear  an  old  man's 
spittle  round  a  child's  mouth,  or  put  some  of  his  lice  into  a 
child's  head,  thus  transferring  the  vital  force  of  the  old  one  to 
the  young. 

The  magic  formulae  are  "old  words,  the  inheritance  of 
ancient  time  when  the  sap  of  man  was  strong  and  the  tongues 
were  powerful."  They  may  also  consist  of  apparently  meaning- 
less connected  words  dreamed  by  old  men.  They  are  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation,  and  the  single  individual 
looks  upon  them  as  invaluable  treasures  which  one  must  not 
give  away  until  death  draws  near.  They  are  impossible  to 
translate,  and  would  therefore  be  difficult  to  recount  in  this 
short  summary,  which  merely  purports  to  give  what  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  understanding  of  these  strange  people 
who  will  so  often  be  mentioned  in  the  following  narrative. 

Of  the  religious  traditions  of  the  Polar  Eskimos  I  may 
mention,  furthermore,  that  man  is  divided  into  a  sold,  a  body, 
and  a  name. 

The  soul,  which  is  immortal,  exists  outside  the  man  and 
follows  him  as  shadow  follows  sunshine.     It  is  a  spirit  which 

31 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR   SEA 

looks  exactly  like  a  man.  When  the  man  is  dead  it  rises  to 
heaven  or  goes  down  into  the  sea,  where  it  foregathers  with  the 
souls  of  the  fathers.    And  both  places  are  good  to  be  in. 

The  body  is  the  abode  of  the  soul ;  it  is  mortal,  as  all  mis- 
fortune and  illness  may  strike  it  down.  In  death  all  that  is  evil 
remains  in  the  body,  wherefore  one  must  observe  the  greatest 
care  in  dealing  with  the  corpse. 

The  name  also  is  a  spirit  to  which  a  certain  store  of  vital 
power  and  skill  is  attached.  A  .man  who  is  named  after  a 
deceased  one  inherits  his  qualities. 

I  commenced  this  chapter  by  stating  that  the  Polar  Eskimo 
does  not  know  worship.  Neither  does  he  in  the  sense  with 
which  we  are  familiar  from  other  religions  ;  he  is  content  to 
bow  down  to  the  Great  Unknown,  and  he  is  not  afraid  of 
admitting  that  he  knows  nothing  and  that  his  belief  is  probably 
wrong.  The  admission  of  his  limitations  and  his  complete 
honesty  are  here,  as  on  all  other  points,  unfailing. 

But  even  if  worship  is  denied  him  through  the  simple  religion 
which  was  handed  down  to  him  from  his  forefathers,  he  is  not  a 
stranger  to  devotion.  And  as  I  am  writing  this  my  thoughts 
return  to  the  many  men  and  women  out  there  whom  in  the 
winter  evenings  I  have  seen  quietly  and  silently  wandering  up 
to  the  graves  of  their  dead.  Here  they  may  remain  hour  after 
hour  in  a  mute  devotion,  which  assuredly  is  no  meaner  expres- 
sion of  the  feeling  of  human  impotence  than  that  which, 
amongst  more  highly  cultured  peoples,  manifests  itself  in  prayer 
and  supplication. 


32 


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THULE    STATION 


A    JOLLY    EVENING    AT    THULE    BEFORE    BREAKING    UP    FOR    THE    JOURNEY 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  GREAT  SLEDGE  JOURNEY  TO  THE  NORTH 

COAST  OF  GREENLAND  :  FROM  THULE 

TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

DEPARTURE    FROM   THULE 

THE  preparations  for  long  journeys  are  made  in  a  very 
serious  spirit ;  but,  as  compensation,  when  the  actual 
start  is  made  and  leave  is  taken  of  the  camp,  the  mood 
changes  to  one  of  happy  geniality,  and  one  goes  out  to  meet 
one's  fate  and  adventures  filled  with  joyful  expectation.  And 
thus  it  is  now  with  us  when  at  last  the  sledges  are  loaded  and 
the  dogs  stand  harnessed  by  the  side  of  the  old  Danviark.  By 
a  strange  coincidence,  Mylius-Erichsen's  old  ship  is  to-day  the 
background  for  our  departure. 

April  6th,  1917. — In  celebration  of  our  departure  we  were 
invited  to  breakfast  on  board,  and  the  Eskimo  members  of  the 
expedition  and  their  wives  were  included  in  the  party.  Captain 
Hansen  of  the  Danmark  had  done  everything  possible,  and  our 
appetites  did  justice  to  the  luxuries  of  the  table. 

But  the  fever  of  travel  had  seized  on  us  and  we  had  in  mind 
only  the  idea  of  getting  away.  Wulff  and  Koch  had  already 
set  off,  and  were  one  day  ahead  of  us.  It  had  been  necessary 
for  me,  after  everything  was  clear,  to  spend  the  last  night  alone, 
so  that  once  more  I  might  go  over  all  the  lists  and  memoranda 
of  those  things  which  must  not  be  forgotten.  This,  more  than 
anything  else,  requires  the  peace  of  solitude,  for  there  js  the 
ever-present  menace  that  if  a  single  little  thing  is  forgotten, 
it  is  impossible  to  procure  it  when  one  is  hundreds  of  miles  away 
from  the  depot,  however  urgently  it  may  be  needed.  Probably 
most  leaders  of  an  expedition  spend  the  last  night  before  the 
C  .  33 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

start  without  sleep.  All  the  keener  is  the  feeling  of  relief  and 
the  appetite  for  work  when  at  last  everything  is  clear  and  ready 
for  the  journey. 

The  impatient  dogs  lie  on  the  ice  awaiting  the  signal  for 
departure ;  whimpering  and  barking  they  strain  at  the  traces, 
and  a  man  is  posted  by  each  sledge  so  that  no  team  may  interfere 
with  the  right  succession  of  events  by  forging  ahead  before  the 
drivers  are  ready.  Alas  !  when  they  are  no  longer  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  permanent  camp,  where  there  is  always  plenty  of  blubbery 
walrus-hide  to  be  had,  this  exaggerated  joy  of  life  will  soon 
wane.  This  loud  eagerness,  this  overflowing  energy,  will  be 
damped  all  too  soon  when  day  after  day  they  are  offered  many 
hours  of  monotonous  toil  on  meagre  rations.  But  to-day  there 
is  no  limit  to  their  wild,  youthful  courage,  which  bubbles  over 
after  the  many  days  of  rest  and  strong  food.  Everyone  is  in 
festive  mood. 

The  weather  is  glorious,  with  a  high  sun  above  the  white 
snow  :  the  ice-mountains  of  the  fjord  gleam  in  the  light  and 
the  basalt  of  the  mountains  out  towards  Cape  Parry  flash  in 
merry  colours. 

The  crew  of  the  ship  wander  around  examining  with  interest, 
and  with  the  eyes  of  experts,  the  securely-roped  sledges.  Now 
and  then  they  go  out  to  stroke  the  dogs.  The  fuss  of  departure 
amongst  these  many  sledges  and  all  the  busy  people  reminds 
one  of  the  stir  of  a  fair-ground. 

When  at  length  the  start  is  made  and  the  men  have  said 
their  last  word  to  the  women  who  must  remain  behind,  each 
man  throws  himself  down  on  his  sledge  and  races  along  the 
fjord  for  the  first  modest  kilometres  towards  the  point  which 
we  have  set  ourselves  as  the  goal  for  the  coming  half-year.  In 
an  hour  the  Dan  mark  is  out  of  sight  and  the  mount  Umanaq, 
where  lies  the  camp,  is  outlined  as  a  small  cone  far,  far  away  in 
the  horizon  behind  us. 

The  dogs  are  in  excellent  condition  and  stretch  out  for  dear 
life,  and  though  the  loads  are  heavy  we  hum  along.  Driving 
on  the  ice  is  easy,  and  the  smooth  iron  runners  of  the  sledges 
sing  across  the  frozen  snow.  We  started  about  four  in  the 
34 


4 

■ 

i 

— Tk           ^ 

THE    DASMARK    IN    WINTER    HARBOUR  :      THE    SLEDGES    OF   THE    EXPEDITION    BEING 
COLLECTED    FOR   THE    START 


A**^  w_ 


v.< 


ONE    OF   THE    SLEDGES    NEAR    ULUGSSAT 


FROM    Tlln.K    To    IRTMHOLDT    GLACIER 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

afternoon  and  already  by  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  have 
covered  the  first  94  miles  to  Netsilivik,  where  we  meet  our 
comrades. 

April  7th. — Netsilivik  is  a  little  camp  consisting  of  three 
houses,  and  it  is  only  because  of  the  big  heart  of  the  Eskimo 
that  it  is  possible  for  us  all  to  get  a  roof  over  our  heads.  We 
are  fifteen  men  in  each  house,  and  for  the  first  few  hours  every- 
thing is  sheer  confusion.  The  dogs  are  tethered  on  the  ice 
outside.  We  make  camp  and  cook  a  well-deserved  cup  of 
coffee  on  the  humming  Primus,  whilst  the  dogs  are  fed  from 
the  abundant  meat  stores  of  Netsilivik. 

A  glance  through  the  peep-holes  of  the  small  gut-skin 
windows  shows  that  our  comrades  and  all  their  friends  still  lie 
in  the  sweetest  of  slumbers.  The  heat  in  the  overcrowded  stone 
house  is  scorching,  and  I  therefore  decide  to  pay  a  morning  call 
at  Iterfiluk's  house,  which  lies  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  walk  away 
from  the  others.  Iterfiluk  is  a  gossiping  widow  of  fifty  years 
of  age,  and  she  is  a  great  friend  of  mine.  In  the  course  of  the 
winter  she  has  often  been  to  Thule  to  make  boots  for  the 
members  of  the  expedition,  and  she  therefore  receives  me  with 
a  shrill  shout  of  welcome  as  I  crawl  through  the  passage  into 
the  house  ;  I  am  only  discovered  at  the  very  moment  when  I 
crawl  up  on  to  her  greasy  stone  floor.  Her  house  also  is  filled 
with  travellers,  and  while  her  visitors  are  asleep  she  herself  sits 
stark  naked  by  her  lamp,  like  one  of  the  holy  virgins  guarding 
the  lamp  so  that  the  precious  light  shall  not  be  extinguished 
during  the  night.  For  up  here  it  is  reckoned  a  great  disgrace 
if  the  guests  of  the  house  should  wake  up  in  the  cold  with  the 
lamps  gone  out. 

According  to  the  custom  of  the  country  I  also  must  pull  off 
my  clothes  and  press  in  between  Iterfiluk  and  one  of  her  friends, 
the  fat  Kiajuk,  who  wears  the  same  paradisaical  costume  as  the 
hostess.  I  sit  chatting  with  her  for  a  long  time,  until  tiredness 
and  the  atmosphere  of  the  house  rob  me  of  all  strength,  so  that 
I,  as  all  the  other  guests  have  done,  droop  down  and  slip  into 
unconsciousness. 

However,  we  could  only  afford  a  few  hours  of  sleep  and  then 

35 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

we  had  to  push  on.  For  when  one  has  many  dogs  requiring 
food  it  is  considered  good  manners  to  leave  the  camps  early. 
By  noon  of  the  same  day  we  had  started  for  the  camp  of 
Ulugssat  on  Northumberland  Island. 

The  camps  in  this  district  generally  consist  of  from  three 
to  five  little  stone  houses ;  consequently,  when  occasionally  one 
comes  to  a  place  with  ten  or  twelve  houses  an  impression  of 
crowdedness  is  created  akin  to  that  felt  by  the  countryman  when 
he  visits  the  capital.  Up  here  we  are  so  accustomed  to  expect 
nothing  out  of  the  ordinary  that  an  uncommonly  large  town 
like  this  quite  overwhelms  us.  Along  the  fronts  of  the  houses 
we  see  everywhere  stagings  built  of  snow-blocks,  covered  with 
lovely  fresh  walrus  meat,  flaming  red  against  the  white  snow. 

The  dogs  of  the  camp  were  all  tethered  in  a  row,  team 
behind  team,  on  the  ice-foot,  and  they  gave  vent  to  savage  yelps 
at  our  arrival.  According  to  the  old  traditions,  which  demand 
of  the  visiting  sledge  parties  a  polite  reserve,  we  all  stopped  on 
the  sea-ice,  some  distance  from  the  ice-foot.  On  land,  the 
Eskimos  were  standing  by  the  houses,  looking  down  at  us 
silently  but  interestedly.  In  accordance  with  the  custom  of 
the  country,  long  minutes  passed  before  both  parties  gave  vent 
to  their  joy  over  the  reunion. 

At  Ulugssat  it  was  easy  to  find  quarters,  for  our  hosts  vied 
with  each  other  in  their  invitations  to  us.  Before  we  went  in 
to  see  to  our  own  comfort,  however,  all  teams  which  were  to 
take  part  in  the  long  journey  were  given  a  thoroughly  good 
feed  from  the  abundant  meat  stores  of  our  hosts.  This  was 
really  great  extravagance,  as  ordinarily  the  dogs  are  only  fed 
every  second  day.  But  one  permits  oneself  such  extravagances 
when  one  is  going  out  on  an  expedition. 

The  houses  of  Ulugssat  were  of  all  dimensions.  There  was 
the  big  Tornge's  palace,  in  which  the  interior  was  divided  into 
two  benches  with  a  sleeping  capacity  for  at  least  twenty — a 
comfortable  room,  entirely  lined  with  wood,  and  festively 
illuminated  by  three  brilliant  train-oil  lamps.  Delicious  meat 
and  glossy  narwhal  skin  were  temptingly  laid  out  on  platforms  of 
flat  stones  built  for  this  purpose  near  the  lamps.  Such  was  the 
36 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

house  of  the  greatest  hunter;  but  there  was  also  the  den  of 
old  Simigaq,  where  the  passage  was  so  narrow  that,  in  spite  of 
honest  attempts,  I  did  not  succeed  in  squeezing  myself  through 
to  pay  her  a  short  call. 

Simigaq,  "The  Corked-up  One,"  is  the  oldest  woman  of 
the  tribe.  In  a  small  way  she  still  invokes  the  aid  of  the 
"  ministering  spirits  "  when  fate,  or  the  camp,  seems  to  oppose 
her  desires.  Otherwise  she  is  like  a  living  book  for  all  those 
who  like  to  listen  to  old  stories  and  myths.  And  Simigaq  is 
never  pressed  in  vain. 


THE    MEAT   IS   GATHERED 

In  Ulugssat  the  afternoon  was  passed  in  the  buying  in  of 
meat  for  men  and  dogs ;  and  we  had  a  busy  day  of  it  as  we 
ourselves  had  to  be  present  eve ry where.  It  is  of  importance  to 
select  the  best  flensing  parts  of  the  meat,  preferably  pieces 
where  the  skin  is  already  separated  from  the  flesh. 

Furthermore,  dining  the  winter  the  women  of  the  camp 
had  been  given  commissions  to  make  a  lot  of  kamiks  (shoes) 
and  mittens,  and  these  articles  now  had  to  be  delivered, 
criticized,  and  paid  for.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  business  which 
could  not  be  delayed,  we  had  to  find  time  for  all  the  unavoidable 
meat  feasts  given  to  celebrate  our  departure.  Well  meant  as 
they  were,  we  found  them  somewhat  of  a  strain  ;  fourteen  meals 
of  walrus  meat  in  the  course  of  one  day  is  a  considerable  feat. 
It  certainly  eased  the  strain  that  the  meat  was  served  in  different 
ways.  Some  of  it  was  freshly  boiled  ;  some  newly  killed  but 
frozen ;  some,  again,  decayed  but  frozen.  This  last  sounds 
bad  but  tastes  good.  But  this  excessive  hospitality  made  us 
all  so  heavy  with  food  that  we  looked  forward  with  longing  to 
a  night's  rest. 

In  Ilanguaq,  "  The  Little  Companion's,"  house  drum-songs 
were  sung  with  great  enthusiasm.     I  called,  but  I  had  to  clear 
out  quickly  again  as  the  heat  was  so  excessive  as  to  wet  one- 
through.     Nevertheless,    I    was   told    next   morning   that   the 
singers  kept  it  up  all  night.     As  the  population  from  the  sur- 

37 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

rounding  camps  had  poured  in  to  bring  me  meat  and  accompany 
us  on  our  way,  there  were  many  sledges  about.  Such  an 
occasion  for  improvised  musical  feasts  is  greedily  seized  upon, 
and  each  one  sings  exclusively  the  drum-songs  which  he  himself 
has  composed. 

Late  in  the  evening,  long  after  my  housemates  were  asleep, 
I  heard  creaking  footsteps  in  the  frozen  snow.  A  little  later 
the  door  opened,  and  when  she  had  carefully  convinced  herself 
that  everybody  else  was  asleep,  old  Simigaq  entered  and  sat 
down  by  the  head  of  my  sleeping-place.  It  was  her  intention, 
she  said,  to  make  my  sleep  light.  She  wished  to  prepare  my 
way  towards  the  land  of  dreams  with  little  sayings  and  legends  ; 
but  first  of  all  she  wanted  to  give  me  for  my  journey  the  advice 
of  an  old  woman,  for  she  believed  that  age  gives  certain  powers 
which  one  may  hand  on  to  the  young.  She  felt  herself  in  debt 
to  me  since  last  we  met.  I  had  once  saved  her  and  brought 
her  to  my  home  from  a  bird-mountain,  where  her  not  very 
courteous  son-in-law  had  deposited  her  for  the  time  being  ;  now 
she  wanted  to  pay  that  debt  before  I  left.  If  it  be  true  that 
age  gives  to  old  people's  words  a  strength  which  can  be 
transmitted  to  the  young,  old  Simigaq  was  certainly  a  tre- 
mendous source  of  power.  Not  only  was  she  the  oldest  woman 
in  the  tribe — red-eyed,  toothless,  baldheaded,  crooked  with 
rheumatism,  nearly  blind,  and  thus  in  possession  of  every  scar 
which  a  long  and  hard  life  leaves — but,  in  addition  to  all  this, 
she  had  now  become  so  ugly  and  withered  that  they  said  she 
could  not  sink  even  if  she  were  thrown  into  the  sea.  But  in 
spite  of  this,  the  memory  of  the  time  when  she  was  young,  and 
her  powers  were  directed  to  quite  different  ends,  still  lived  fresh 
and  merry  in  her  consciousness. 

She  herself  told  that  she  had  been  the  possessor  of  an  extra- 
ordinarily fair  complexion,  and  of  thick  hair  which,  like  a  water- 
fall, hung  down  about  her  naked  body.  She  was  also  tall  and 
deep-bosomed,  and  to  all  these  charms  was  added  a  care-free 
and  happy  temperament.  The  men  vied  with  each  other  in 
their  efforts  to  win  her  favours,  and  her  attractiveness  resulted 
in  several  marriages.  At  last  she  had  found  a  haven  with  a 
38 


FROM  THILE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

man  called  "  The  Little  Throat  "  ;  she  had  been  married  to  him 
for  several  years.  But  this  was  when  the  white  men  only  fit- 
fully visited  "  The  Land  of  Men,"  and  when  guns  and  the  other 
implements  for  the  daily  catch  were  unknown.  The  use  of  the 
kayak  had  been  forgotten,  and  now  one  camped  near  the  bird- 
mountains  during  the  summer  when  the  sea  was  open.  It 
happened  not  infrequently  that  there  was  a  famine  during  the 
winter,  for  one  must  gather  many  Sea-kings  before  one  could 
lay  in  a  store  large  enough  to  see  one  safely  through  the  Polar 
night. 

On  one  occasion,  when  there  had  been  a  poor  hunt  and 
everybody  was  hungry,  "The  Little  Throat"  suddenly  disap- 
peared from  the  stone  hut.  It  was  no  longer  good  to  be  there. 
But,  strangely  enough,  the  whole  stock  of  puppies  disappeared 
at  the  same  time,  and  this  aroused  Simigaq's  suspicions.  She 
went  to  the  mountains  and  tracked  down  her  man,  who  sat 
gorging  himself  on  the  puppies,  which  he  had  roasted  on  a 
flat  stone. 

The  annoying  part  was  not  so  much  the  fact  that  the  puppies, 
which  should  have  hauled  their  sledges  on  their  journeys  next 
spring,  were  killed,  but  rather  the  circumstance  that  "The 
Little  Throat"  had  deceitfully  eaten  them  alone,  without 
asking  his  beautiful  woman  to  share  in  the  feast.  Naturally 
this  led  to  a  divorce.  Thus  "  The  Corked-up  One  "  had  again 
passed  from  hand  to  hand  for  some  time  until  she  had  married 
Kajok,  called  "The  Yellow  One,"  with  whom  she  had  lived 
happily  until  his  death. 

And  now  this  weather-worn  and  hardened  old  woman,  who 
had  lived  such  a  life  of  good  and  evil,  was  sitting  at  my  head, 
wanting  me  to  share  the  benefit  of  her  experiences,  the  result 
of  her  long  life.  On  a  long  journey  it  would  be  as  well  to  be 
on  good  terms  with  the  spirits  that  rule  over  mountains  and 
abysses;  the  loneliness  also  had  its  powers,  of  which  puny  man 
must  beware.  Therefore  she  came  to  me  this  last  night  with 
a  few  magic  songs. 

Oh,  she  said,  these  magic  songs  were  poor  and  insignificant, 
a  collection  of  short,  meaningless  words.     But  what  about  that? 

39 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

After  all,  we  humans  understand  so  little  of  that  which  is  met 
with  in  places  where  one  is  alone  with  the  silent  world. 

This  was  her  explanation  and  her  excuse.  And  while, 
possessed  like  a  pagan  priestess,  she  mumbled  her  songs  through 
her  toothless  gums,  I  lay  close  to  her  on  my  rug  and  listened. 

Here  is  the  song  of  life,  the  song  for  him  who  wishes  to  live  : 

Day  arises 

From  its  sleep, 

Day  wakes  up 

With  the  dawning  light. 

Also  you  must  arise, 

Also  you  must  awake 

Together  with  the  day  which  comes. 

She  murmured  the  words  to  me,  whispering  and  distant  in 
her  ecstasy,  until  they  were  as  if  burnt  into  my  consciousness. 

Then  came  the  song  sung  by  men  who,  driving  heavily  and 
slowly,  are  in  danger  of  death  : 

Forth,  forth, 

Sledge,  glider,  travelling  tool ! 
Your  fat  cheeks  you  must  smooth, 
That  they  may  run  easily  ! 

If  the  game  disappears,  so  that  one  must  starve,  the  follow- 
ing is  sung  : 

Heigh — from  the  deep 
Sea-beasts  I  caught, 
Heigh — heigh, 
Walrus  I  killed 
From  the  deep, 
Heigh — heigh, 
Narwhals  I  harpooned, 
Black-sides,  seals  did  I  take 
From  the  deep.  .  .  . 

Thus  a  good  catch  is  secured. 

She  chanted  words  which  disperse  the  fog ;  the  bear-song 
which  lures  forth  the  bear ;  the  drinking  song  which  procures 
water  for  the  thirsty  ;  and  songs  to  be  sung  during  the  climbing 
of  mountains — all  of  them  useful  and  indispensable  for  him  who 
travels  to  unknown  countries. 

The  mountain-song  was  the  last  one  I  heard,  then  the 
40 


3*L 


J 


K^5?    ' 


YOUNG    BEAR-HUNTER 


TWO    ESKIMO    BOYS    OF    SEVENTEEN    YEARS 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

monotonous  voice  overpowered  me,  and  when  I  opened  my  eyes 
after  a  few  hours'  sleep,  old  Simigaq  had  long  ago  crept  home 
to  her  modest  den.  I  jumped  down  from  the  bench  and  peeped 
out  through  the  window  to  look  at  the  weather.  It  was  light  as 
day  now,  even  in  the  middle  of  the  night;  the  sky  was  clear, 
without  a  single  cloud,  rounding  itself  like  a  blue  dome  above 
the  land  and  the  white  ice.  A  faint  pink  tinge  announced  that 
sunrise  was  not  far  away,  but  it  was  yet  too  early  to  break  camp. 

Next  day,  in  brilliant  sunshine,  I  drove  on  with  Ajako  to 
the  camp  of  Igdluluarssuit,  while  all  the  other  sledges  went 
directly  to  Neqe.  We  still  wanted  a  couple  of  pack-sledges 
and  some  more  meat,  and  at  Igdluluarssuit  lived  Sipsu,  an  ex- 
cellent hunter  and  experienced  sledge-driver,  whom  I  would 
fain  have  with  me  on  the  last  pack-sledge  right  up  to  Fort 
Conger. 

April  9th. — The  following  day  the  sledges  and  all  the  meat 
procured  at  Neqe  were  collected.  The  heaped  meat  formed  a 
considerable  bulk,  and  we  had  twenty-seven  sledges  and  354 
dogs  to  transport  it.  This  was  rather  a  large  apparatus  to  set 
moving  for  the  sake  of  six  sledges,  and  to  understand  it  the 
following  explanation  is  necessary  : 

As  already  mentioned,  all  our  equipment  was  Eskimo 
throughout,  as  were  also  the  provisions.  Walrus  meat  is  excel- 
lent food  for  the  dogs,  but  it  has  the  great  drawback  of 
containing  65-70  per  cent,  of  water.  This  makes  it  very  heavy 
for  transport,  and  whilst  one  can  reckon  a  pound  of  pemmican 
a  day  for  each  dog,  one  must  reckon  of  walrus  meat  or  skin 
about  three  pounds  a  day,  or  from  five  to  six  pounds  even' 
second  day.  And  besides  our  own  dogs  we  had,  of  course,  to 
feed  the  teams  of  the  pack-sledges  as  well. 

We  planned  our  journey  so  that  altogether  fifteen  sledges 
were  to  go  to  Humboldt's  Glacier,  thirteen  to  Cape  Constitution, 
eight  to  Thank  God  Harbour  on  Polaris  Promontory,  and  by 
the  time  we  arrived  here  the  loads  would  be  so  reduced  that  the 
six  sledges  for  the  long  voyage  could  take  over  everything. 

The  meat,  ordered  beforehand,  lay  ready  for  us  on  the  ice- 
foot.    I  had  only  to  pay  for  it  and  then  distribute  the  loads. 

41 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

The  payment  generally  demanded  consisted  of  powder,  lead, 
and  percussion  caps.  This  part  of  the  business  was  easily  and 
quickly  arranged.  It  is  not  difficult  to  come  to  an  agreement 
with  Eskimos  with  regard  to  provisions  for  a  large  expedition 
for  an  indefinite  period.  They  fully  sympathize  in  a  matter 
like  this.  Greater  difficulties  arose  in  the  distribution  of  the 
meat  on  the  twenty-seven  sledges  ;  for  here  one  had  to  consider 
not  only  the  strength  of  the  teams  but  also  the  quality  of  the 
sledges. 

When  everything  was  in  order  the  motley  train  set  out,  and 
the  eager  dogs  rushed  across  the  ice  to  the  accompaniment  of 
screeching  whip-lashes,  soon  to  disappear  behind  the  nearest 
headland.  Our  road  for  the  first  six  miles  lay  across  the  frozen 
ocean  as  far  as  Cape  Alexander,  where  the  water  is  always  open, 
even  in  the  severest  weather.  This  water  we  had  to  get  round 
by  driving  up  across  the  inland-ice. 

We  started  at  four  o'clock,  and  the  glacier  where  the  ascent 
was  to  commence  we  reached  at  about  seven  in  the  evening. 
Here  we  all  stopped  and  made  the  inevitable  cup  of  coffee,  the 
local  cup  that  cheers.  The  passage  does  not  take  more  than 
a  couple  of  hours,  but  it  is  generally  exceedingly  hard  work. 
First  one  toils  up  the  steep  slopes,  dripping  with  perspiration ; 
then,  at  a  height  of  three  hundred  metres,  comes  the  biting 
north  wind  which,  in  clear  weather,  always  rages  round  the 
neck  of  Cape  Alexander.  The  drifting  snow  is  as  thick  here 
as  an  English  fog,  cold  and  damnable,  and  often  so  violent  as 
to  make  it  almost  impossible  for  one  who  comes  from  the  south 
to  drive  the  dogs  up  against  the  wind.  The  habit  of  strengthen- 
ing oneself  with  a  cup  of  good,  strong  coffee  is  therefore  not  to 
be  wondered  at. 

It  was  difficult  to  get  the  heavy  sledges  up  the  glacier, 
which  is  always  blown  hard  and  smooth ;  but  as  there  were 
many  of  us  to  share  the  burden,  the  crossing  was  successfully 
accomplished.  The  storm  and  the  drifting  snow  we  accepted 
with  a  good  temper,  knowing  that  we  would  doubly  appreciate 
the  calm  weather  which  always  awaits  the  traveller  on  the 
frozen  sea. 
42 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 


GUESTS   OF  THE   AMERICAN   EXPEDITION 

April  10th. — At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  arrived 
with  all  our  train  at  Etah,  where  we  camped  on  the  ice  just 
outside  the  headquarters  of  the  Crockerland  Expedition. 

In  spite  of  our  early  arrival,  we  had  the  heartiest  reception 
from  Captain  Comer,  who  is  always  early  up  and  about.  He 
invited  us  into  the  house,  where  Mr.  McMillan  offered  us 
breakfast,  an  invitation  we  could  only  accept  a  few  hours  later 
when  our  populous  and  elaborate  camp  was  made. 

For  three  days  we  were  the  guests  of  our  American 
colleagues,  and  during  that  time  we  were  shown  every  kindness. 
We  had  originally  decided  to  spend  only  a  day  here,  but  bad 
weather  forced  us  to  prolong  our  visit. 

During  our  stay  Mr.  McMillan  kindly  helped  us  with  some 
pemmican  and  biscuits,  an  excellent  supplement  to  our  own 
stores. 

April  llth-12th. — We  spent  the  days  at  Etah  killing  time  in 
various  ways.  We  dived  into  the  very  extensive  library  of  the 
Crockerland  Expedition,  visited  the  Eskimo  families  which 
were  all  old  friends  of  ours,  and  every  evening  ended  with  a  ball 
which  lasted  into  the  early  hours  of  the  morning. 

The  Americans  had  a  wonderful  gramophone,  which  enter- 
tained us  greatly  with  its  varied  and  select  repertoire.  There 
was  something  for  everybody's  taste,  so  that  at  times  we  heard 
songs  from  all  the  operas  of  the  world,  sung  by  Caruso,  Alma 
Gluck,  Adelina  Patti,  etc.,  and  at  other  times  we  abandoned 
ourselves  to  musical  debauches,  for  a  change  indulging  in 
tangos  and  one-steps. 

People  at  home  who  have  access  to  real  music,  performed 
either  by  themselves  or  by  professional  artists,  generally  turn  up 
their  noses  at  our  joy  in  the  gramophone,  which  they  regard 
as  a  musical  disgrace.  I  do  not  consider  that  I  am  more  un- 
musical than  the  average  man,  but  I  confess,  nevertheless,  that 
I  am  one  of  those  who  pay  homage  to  the  gramophone. 
Wherever  I  have  met  it,  be  it  in  a  winter  camp  among  the 

43 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

Eskimos  or  among  the  Danish  families  in  the  Greenland 
colonies,  it  always  brought  a  peculiarly  pathetic  greeting  from 
all  that  which  we  up  here  so  keenly  long  for,  but  must  forgo  ; 
and  I  have  seen  many  a  man,  whom  one  could  not  otherwise 
accuse  of  sentimentality,  forcibly  subdue  the  emotion  which  the 
gramophone's  music  aroused. 

The  three  days  spent  in  involuntary  idleness  took  a  good 
slice  out  of  our  meat  stores.  But  one  day,  as  I  was  trying  to 
make  up  my  mind  as  to  how  much  more  we  could  permit  our- 
selves to  eat  in  case  the  storm  should  last,  a  man  named  Majaq 
appeared,  and  he  rid  my  mind  of  all  cares.  He  had  spent 
spring  and  autumn  by  Renslaer  Harbour  and  told  me  that  he 
still  possessed  considerable  meat  stores  there,  which  he  put 
entirely  at  the  disposal  of  the  expedition  if  only  we  would  pay 
him  in  ammunition ;  this  offer  we  of  course  accepted  with  joy. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  in  the  afternoon,  the  weather  at  last 
calmed  down  so  that  we  could  think  of  breaking  up.  There 
was  still  a  gale,  but  as  under  all  circumstances  here  in  Etah 
wind  and  good  weather  go  together,  we  made  ready  and  drove 
up  against  the  wind.  Towards  morning  we  reached  Anoritoq 
and  camped  for  the  night. 

ICE-BEAR,  THE   WIDOW'S   SON 

By  a  freak  of  fate  Anoritoq  possesses  a  name  which  means 
"  The  Windswept  One."  This  little  camp,  which  has  become 
world-famous  as  the  winter  quarters  of  Dr.  Cook's  pretended 
Polar  Expedition,  is,  however,  the  only  place  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Etah  which  is  always  dead  calm. 

Anoritoq's  name  is  derived  from  an  old  tale  about  a  certain 
Anoritoq  who  reared  a  bear. 

The  woman  Arnajaq  tells  the  following  : 

Once  there  was  a  man  named  Angutdligamaq,  who  himself 
never  hunted.  He  occasionally  went  out  on  the  ice,  and  if  he 
chanced  to  meet  a  man  dragging  a  seal  along,  he  killed  him  and 
took  the  seal  home  as  his  own  catch.  In  this  way  he  lived. 
44 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

His  countrymen  dared  not  rebel  against  him  because  he  was 
so  strong,  and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  through  many  years  he 
lived  by  murder  and  robbery.  But  one  day  they  decided  that 
he  was  going  too  far,  so  they  agreed  to  defeat  him  with  cunning. 
''Listen,  Angutdligamaq,"  someone  said,  "you  do  not  know 
what  fun  it  is  to  go  hunting  with  others ;  you  ought  to  try  it, 
I  am  sure  you  would  then  join  us  every  day."  When  Angut- 
dligamaq heard  this  he  joined  the  hunters  of  the  camp  on  the 
next  day.  But  as  he  was  quite  unused  to  the  life  outside  the 
houses  he  was  very  clumsy,  and  his  comrades  had  to  help  him  in 
everything  he  did.  In  the  evening  they  all  lay  down  to  sleep 
in  a  snow-hut,  but  he  did  not  know  how  to  set  about  this  either. 

"  How  does  one  rest  in  a  snow-hut?" 

"  One  sleeps  best  if  one  pulls  one  leg  out  of  the  trousers," 
the  others  replied. 

This  he  did  and  soon  he  was  fast  asleep. 

But  as  soon  as  his  comrades  saw  his  bare  behind,  they  rushed 
up  and  buried  a  spear  in  it.  And  Angutdligamaq,  bellowing 
with  pain,  jumped  up  in  the  air,  and  thereby  forced  the  point  of 
the  spear  still  further  in  and  died.  His  comrades  then  returned 
home. 

"  What  has  become  of  Angutdligamaq?"  the  mother  asked, 
she  who  was  called  Anoritoq,  ""The  Windswept  One." 

"He  was  killed,"  the  others  answered. 

"  When  next  you  catch  a  pregnant  bear,  then  give  to  me  the 
embryo  that  it  may  be  my  child,"  the  woman  begged  of  them. 

Then  one  day,  when  the  hunters  had  caught  a  pregnant  bear, 
they  brought  the  embryo  home  to  the  woman,  and  she  reared 
it  with  blubber  from  her  lamp,  and  soon  it  was  so  big  it  could 
catch  seals  for  her. 

The  bear  was  called  Anoritoq's  son. 

In  the  winter,  when  the  great  darkness  came,  the  bear  could 
no  longer  see  to  catch  the  seals,  and  then  it  started  stealing 
from  other  men's  meat  stores. 

'  You  must  not  steal,"  the  foster-mother  anxiously  warned 
it ;   "  your  cousins  will  stop  you  and  the  people  will  kill  you." 

The  dogs  were  called  the  bear's  cousins. 

45 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

"  Oh,  I  will  run  away  before  the  wind,"  the  bear  said,  "  then 
the  dogs  cannot  scent  me." 

Nevertheless,  one  day  things  went  wrong.  The  dogs 
stopped  the  bear,  and  the  people  killed  it. 

For  many  days  the  woman  waited  anxiously,  for  although 
nobody  had  told  her,  she  feared  that  this  animal,  of  which  she 
had  now  grown  fond,  had  been  killed. 

One  day  when,  as  usual,  she  had  warned  it  not  to  steal,  she 
had  blackened  one  of  its  sides  with  soot  from  her  lamp. 

"  In  this  way  I  shall  at  least  know  for  certain  if  it  should  be 
killed,"  she  said. 

She  now  told  the  people  in  her  camp  to  drive  out  and  ask 
in  other  places  whether  anyone  had  killed  a  bear  with  soot  on 
one  side ;  and  before  long  sledges  returned  and  told  her  that  a 
bear  like  this  had  been  killed  in  one  of  the  neighbouring  camps. 

The  woman  sorrowed  greatly  when  she  knew  that  her  foster- 
son  was  dead.  Weeping,  she  left  her  house  and  sat  down  on 
the  headland  outside  the  camp.  As  she  looked  across  the 
endless  ice  which  had  previously  been  the  bear's  hunting- 
ground,  she  sang  : 

In  vain  looks  the  waiting  one, 

In  vain  cries  the  sorrowing ; 

Hard  is  the  lot  of  the  woman 

Who  must  shed  tears  without  comfort  ; 

Heavy  is  the  lot  of  the  woman  who  must  survive 

Her  only  son. 

Bear,  bear, 

Will  you  never  return, 

Bear,  bear ! 

Days  and  nights  elapsed,  and  the  woman  would  take  no 
nourishment.  Sobbing,  she  sang  her  song  until  the  tears 
stiffened  on  her  cheeks  as  her  body  turned  to  stone. 

One  still  sees  her  lifelike  form  on  the  headland  by  the  camp. 
Her  mouth  is  covered  with  a  layer  of  hardened  blubber,  for  they 
say  that  it  brings  luck  to  the  bear-hunter  if,  before  he  goes  out, 
he  tries  to  feed  the  bear-mother  with  blubber.  And  in  the 
quiet  winter  nights,  when  the  northern  light  sends  its  ghostly 
rays  across  the  heavens,  one  sees  old  hunters  going  towards  the 
46 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

mountain  under  some  plausible  pretext.  The  next  day  fresh 
tracks  in  the  snow  show  that  the  bear-mother  has  had  visitors, 
and  her  face  glistens  with  blubber. 


THE   FIRST    POLAR-ICE 

Before  dawn,  just  as  we  had  got  up  to  light  the  Primuses, 
we  were  surprised  to  hear  the  barking  of  dogs  and  strange  voices 
outside.  Two  young  men  had  returned  from  a  successful  hunt 
of  musk-ox  in  Ellesmere  Land,  where  they  had  slain  forty 
animals.  They  provided  us  generously  with  fresh  meat  and 
tallow  ;  we  then  parted,  each  going  his  own  way. 

From  Anoritoq  to  Renslaer  Harbour  we  had  a  beautiful 
but  strenuous  day's  journey.  From  Cape  Inglefield  to  Cape 
Ingersoll  we  travelled  through  strongly  pressed-up  ice.  During 
this  part  of  the  autumn  the  whole  of  Kane  Basin  consists  of 
huge  drifting  ice-floes ;  the  current  here  sets  very  strongly 
towards  land,  and,  whilst  new  ice  is  being  formed,  blocks  of 
ice  are  pressed  up  where  the  drifting  floes  freeze  together. 
These  pressure-ridges  are  often  so  tall  that  one  must  hew  a  way 
through  with  axes.  The  heavily  loaded  sledges  have  to  be 
slowly  and  carefully  worked  across,  so  that  they  shall  not  be 
crushed  in  a  sudden  fall  from  a  height  of  several  metres ;  often 
they  stick  in  awkward  and  desperate  positions,  where  several 
men's  strength  is  required  to  free  them  again.  This  is  hot  and 
laborious  work,  which,  however,  generally  leads  to  so  many 
comic  situations  that  the  task  is  shouldered  with  good  temper. 

Near  Cape  Ingersoll  we  climbed  on  to  an  ice-foot  about 
sixty  metres  broad  which  stretched  before  us  as  a  beautiful  and 
easy  snow-free  road.  Above  us  towered  the  high  red  sandstone 
mountains,  with  an  even  gradient  of  snow-clad  talus  at  the  foot 
and  steep  precipices  near  the  top.  The  red  rays  of  the  evening 
sun  were  refracted  on  to  the  snow  and  the  mountains,  and  with 
this  beautiful  landscape  before  us  we  drove  at  a  rapid  trot  to  the 
camp  by  Renslaer  Harbour  which  the  Eskimo  calls  Aunartoq. 

The  inner  bend  of  this  bay  gives  an  exceedingly  friendly 
impression.      The    country    hereabout    consists    of    beautiful 

47 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

rounded  hills  of  light  granite,  with  moss  and  grass  peeping  out 
wherever  the  snow  is  blown  away.  Along  the  coast  tall,  elegant, 
and  proud  sandstone  mountains  stand  on  both  sides  of  the  bay, 
like  a  majestic  porch  leading  to  the  little  cove  where  the 
Eskimos  have  built  a  camp.  The  coast  mountains,  especially 
at  sunset,  are  tinged  with  red,  which  contrasts  beautifully  with 
the  greyish-white  gneiss  in  the  sheltered  cove  from  which  an 
even  and  uniform  high  plateau  stretches  like  a  large  plain  right 
up  to  the  inland-ice. 


MAJAQ'S   MEAT-PITS 

We  were  all  curious  to  know  how  far  Majaq  would  be  able 
to  keep  his  promise.  He  had  spoken  about  masses  of  meat, 
but  the  Eskimo's  idea  of  masses  is  often  quite  relative.  As 
soon  as  we  had  made  camp  and  tethered  the  dogs,  I  went  with 
Majaq  up  to  the  little  headland  where  his  depot  was  supposed 
to  be.  With  justifiable  pride  he  pointed  out  over  the  plain 
and  said  :  "  All  the  meat  which  lies  here  is  now  yours;  may 
your  dogs  grow  strong  on  my  catch." 

I  saw  at  once  that  the  man  had  not  exaggerated ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  would  be  difficult  for  us  to  use  all  he  had  offered. 
Here  were  seals  and  meat  in  abundance.  While  the  tents  of 
the  expedition  were  pitched  and  snow-houses  were  being  built, 
we  pushed  the  huge  stones  away  from  the  meat-pits  to  get  at 
the  seals.  Thirty-five  large,  fat  seals  we  took,  and  four  delici- 
ous bearded  seals. 

This  represented  such  a  large  addition  to  the  meat  we  already 
had  that  we  decided  to  rest  for  a  day  for  the  express  purpose  of 
allowing  the  dogs  to  eat  as  much  meat  as  they  could  possibly 
get  down.  We  spent  this  holiday,  which  abundance  of  meat 
allowed  us  to  take,  in  studying  the  historical  place  whereto 
Majaq's  meat-pits  had  led  us. 

Majaq  is  one  of  the  best  hunters  of  the  tribe,  and  is  to  be 
counted  among  those  who  are  not  fain  to  leave  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Cape  York,  where  the  bear-hunts  in  Melville  Bay 
tempt  one  to  remain.  But  last  year  he  had  promised  his  wife 
48 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

and  half -grown  son  that  for  once  they  should  be  given  an  oppor- 
tunity of  a  good  airing  for  their  clothes.  They  had  lived  by 
Cape  York  for  such  a  long  time  that  they  almost  stank  with 
fixity  of  abode;  therefore  they  had  decided  on  this  great 
removal. 

THE   EIDERDUCK 

Anoritoq  had  at  that  time  been  uninhabited  for  fifty  years. 
The  last  man  to  settle  here  was  called  "  Eiderduck."  Originally 
he  had  lived  further  southward,  where  there  were  many  people, 
and  where  one  thus  did  not  suffer  from  the  emptiness  and 
longing  due  to  the  lack  of  people  between  the  camps.  But  a 
local  hunter  had  tried  to  rob  him  of  his  very  beautiful  wife,  and 
as  the  wife  did  not  appear  to  have  sufficient  respect  for  the 
"  Eiderduck's"  rights,  the  latter  at  last  decided  to  move  further 
northward. 

But  on  their  way  through  the  camps  along  the  lands  they 
fell  upon  illness  and  bad  hunting.  This  happened  in  the  time 
when  evil  fate  might  sweep  down  on  men  suddenly  and  un- 
mercifully ;  and  at  that  time  it  was  the  custom  to  leave  behind, 
in  some  empty  house  which  they  casually  came  across,  those 
who  could  not  keep  up  with  the  other  travellers.  As  a  rule, 
those  left  behind  were  children.  Windows  and  doors  were 
covered  with  large  stones,  too  heavy  for  the  exhausted  ones  to 
move ;  thus  they  were  left  buried  alive.  This  was  not  done 
with  evil  intent,  it  was  in  accordance  with  one  of  the  traditions 
of  the  restless  hunters.  Weeping,  and  with  loud  lamentations, 
they  tried  to  get  away  as  quickly  and  as  far  as  possible  from  the 
doomed,  who  in  the  course  of  a  short  time  died  of  starvation  and 
cold.  In  this  way  the  "  Eiderduck  "  left  his  children,  one  after 
the  other.  Only  one  child,  the  parents'  favourite,  accompanied 
them  on  a  sledge,  bundled  in  a  skin.  But  as  during  the 
journey  they  became  half-witted  through  illness,  hunger,  and 
exhaustion,  the  "Eiderduck"  in  the  end  asked  his  wife  to 
throw  the  child  from  the  sledge,  so  that  it  might  have  a  quick 
and  painless  death  in  the  cold.     And  this  she  did. 

The  following  day  they  repented  of  their  heartlessness,  but 
I>  49 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

too  late ;  and  in  their  regret  over  their  own  inhumanity  they 
continued  to  travel  further  and  further  north.  At  Anoritoq 
they  met  many  people  who  lived  happily ;  but  sorrow  weighed 
on  their  minds  and  they  could  not  bear  the  company  of  people, 
so  they  continued  their  journey  northward  until  at  last  they 
settled  by  Aunartoq.  Here  they  lived  alone  for  many  years, 
and  never  travelled  to  visit  other  people.  Those  few  who 
visited  them  always  spoke  of  their  great  hospitality,  but  never 
did  they  open  their  mouths  to  let  out  a  superfluous  word,  never 
was  a  smile  seen  on  their  lips.  Once  when  someone  went  to 
visit  them  they  were  both  found  to  be  dead.  There  was  a 
sufficiency  of  meat  in  their  stores,  and  the  visitors  concluded 
that  they  had  starved  themselves  to  death  so  that  they  might 
follow  the  child  which  they  had  killed. 

Since  the  "  Eiderduck's "  time  nobody  had  lived  by 
Renslaer  Harbour ;  the  place  was  in  evil  repute.  First  now 
in  1916  Majaq  had  moved  out  here,  but  although  the  catch  of 
spring  and  summer  had  been  so  abundant  that  all  his  meat-pits 
were  flowing  over,  he  nevertheless  moved  in  the  autumn  down 
to  Etah,  so  great  was  his  longing  for  companionship.  Majaq 
chose  to  struggle  through  the  dark  period  far  from  his  own 
meat  stores,  wherefore  his  countrymen  said  that  he  was  mad ; 
but  the  loneliness  had  weighed  on  him  so  heavily  in  the  place 
where  lay  the  bones  of  the  "  Eiderduck  "  that  he  preferred  to 
live  in  poverty  among  fellow-creatures. 


"  SPRING-TIME  "   CAMP 

The  camp  Aunartoq,  the  place  where  spring  comes  early, 
consisted  merely  of  three  houses,  and  these  were  all  very  old. 
Among  some  ruins  I  found  a  piece  of  a  sledge  which  seemed 
to  have  been  made  entirely  from  whale-rib.  There  was  also 
a  whale's  head  built  into  the  wall.  It  was  strange  to  see  that 
even  so  far  north,  in  places  where  the  ice  seldom  quite  disap- 
pears, the  whale  has  played  an  important  part,  just  as  it  has 
done  in  other  parts  of  Smith  Sound.  Besides  these  things  I 
found  bones  of  walrus,  bear,  and  musk-ox,  and,  of  course,  an 
50 


WINTEK-Hcil 'SK    I'.KFdRE    THE    SNOW    FALLS 


MY    OWN    DOGS    READY    FOR    STARTING 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

abundance  of  gnawed  seal  bones.  Many  meat-pits  of  the  usual 
form  were  built  about  the  houses. 

I  was  somewhat  surprised  to  find  no  bones  of  reindeer ;  for 
this  peaceful  expanse  between  the  ocean  and  the  inland-ice  has, 
at  any  rate  during  an  earlier  period,  given  the  necessary  con- 
ditions of  life  for  many  reindeer.  The  reason  may,  of  course, 
be  that  this  place  was  uninhabited  at  the  time  when  the  Eskimos 
hunted  reindeer.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  reindeer  has 
been  looked  upon  by  the  present  tribe  as  an  unclean  animal 
not  to  be  eaten.  It  was  only  after  1864,  when  the  immigrants 
from  Baffin's  Bay  brought  new  customs  to  the  country,  that 
one  learned  to  consider  the  reindeer  as  a  meat  giver ;  since  then 
it  has  been  hunted  with  such  thoroughness  that  it  is  almost 
extinct.  The  hunting  conditions  of  Renslaer  Harbour  are 
briefly  as  follows  : 

Every  spring  many  seals  and  bearded  seals  are  caught  by  the 
Utut  method  on  the  ice  ;  one  can  engage  in  Utut-hunting  here 
practically  all  through  the  summer,  as  the  ice  generally  remains 
on  the  water  in  the  bays.  Not  until  the  middle  of  August  does 
the  melted  water  above  the  ice  become  so  deep  as  to  make  this 
method  of  hunting  impossible.  Of  late  years  the  ice  has  not 
broken  along  the  land,  although  very  broad  fissures  have 
appeared  round  the  headlands.  Occasionally,  however,  walrus 
will  be  found  in  these  clefts.  Many  hares  are  to  be  found 
inland,  and  occasionally  reindeer. 

In  the  afternoon  as  soon  as  our  work  about  the  meat-pits 
was  finished  and  the  bearded  seals  and  seals  cut  up  into  pieces 
of  convenient  size  for  the  requirements  of  our  journey,  we  had 
a  party.  We  could  not  help  rejoicing  because  of  the  great 
abundance  which  Majaq's  meat  depots  had  suddenly  added  to 
our  possessions. 

The  feast  began  with  the  production  of  a  cinema  film,  which 
was  a  great  success  for  all  the  actors.  It  was  played  near 
Majaq's  hut,  and  even  some  of  the  largest  and  best  of  our  dogs 
were  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  play.  The  action  of  the  play 
was  as  simple  as  possible,  as  it  merely  pictured  the  arrival  of  a 
lot  of  visitors  to  Majaq,  who,  with  smiles  and  large  gestures  of 

51 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

the  hands,  led  them  towards  the  piles  of  meat  which  we  had 
just  collected  from  his  depots.  Here  we  then  partook  of  a 
brilliant  feast. 

Although  the  proceedings  amused  them,  the  Eskimos  re- 
garded the  performance  merely  as  a  series  of  mad  antics,  and 
the  actors  did  not  seem  to  put  great  trust  in  Ajako,  who,  during 
his  visit  to  Denmark  in  1914,  had  seen  similar  things,  and  now 
told  them  that  the  pictures  would  at  some  time  become  alive. 
They  listened  to  his  explanations  but  paid  only  slight  attention 
to  such  postulates,  as  they  did  not  wish  to  accuse  Ajako  of  a 
loose  connection  with  the  truth. 

Wulff  handled  the  camera,  and  he  did  it  in  such  a  way  that 
their  spirits  were  further  raised  by  the  shouts  with  which  he 
stimulated  the  actors.  Unfortunately,  a  year  and  a  half  was  to 
elapse  before  the  result  could  be  shown. 

After  this  mimic  feast  we  started  a  real  feast  on  rotten  meat 
of  bearded  seal.  The  bearded  seal  is  usually  divided  among  the 
hunters,  the  most  coveted  parts  being  those  from  which  the 
indispensable  seal  straps  are  taken.  But  Majaq  had  already  cut 
out  so  many  straps  from  his  great  catch  that  the  last  bearded 
seals  he  caught  were  cut  up  without  separating  the  skin  and 
blubber  from  the  meat.  The  result  of  this  mode  of  preserva- 
tion is  that  the  big  flensing  pieces  which  are  put  down  during 
early  spring  in  stone  mounds,  far  down  in  the  cold  soil,  get  only 
the  slightest  touch  of  decay.  No  ray  of  sun  must  reach  the 
flesh  which,  when  the  sparing  warmth  of  summer  has  gone, 
looks  like  half-dried,  smoked  meat,  and  tastes  excellently.  One 
very  seldom  sees  bearded  seal  served  in  this  way,  and  our 
appetites  were  voracious.  Our  dogs  also  were  given  their  share, 
and  although  they  numbered  185,  they  had  as  much  as  one 
dared  to  stuff  into  them  without  danger  of  bursting  their  in- 
ternal organs.  After  the  meat  coffee  was  served,  succeeded  by 
an  exhibition  on  ski  which  furthered  digestion  of  the  solid  meal 
by  much  laughter.  Very  few  Eskimos  have  any  practice  in 
ski-ing  down  the  hills,  and  as  most  of  their  efforts  resulted  in 
somersaults,  we  had  plenty  of  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of 
our  diaphragms. 
52 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

That  evening  will  never  be  forgotten.  Soon  the  sun  would 
be  shining  night  and  day,  but  as  yet  it  still  disappeared  below 
the  horizon  for  a  few  minutes,  and  created  at  its  setting  those 
wonderful  ranges  of  illumination  on  the  sandstone  mountains 
and  the  white  snow.  These  beautiful  moments  are  over  as  soon 
as  the  more  uniform  light  of  the  midnight  sun  shines  night  and 
day.  The  landscape  was  wonderful,  not  merely  because  the 
coast  with  the  broad  ice-foot  and  the  beautiful  coast  mountains 
was  in  itself  so  charming,  but  also  because  the  whole  of  Kane 
Basin,  with  its  irregular  plain  of  pack-ice,  gave  a  wild  and 
grand  view  to  the  north ;  and  every  night  the  mountains  of 
Grinnell  Land  appeared  in  the  fleeing  sunlight  as  burning, 
phantastic  castles  on  the  western  horizon. 


GREAT   BLOOD-BATH   FJORD 

April  16th. — On  the  16th  of  April  we  continued  our  journey 
northward  on  a  broad  ice-foot  which  gave  easy  and  rapid  pro- 
gress. The  ice-foot  is  only  formed  in  places  where  the  water 
ebbs  and  flows  to  a  considerable  height.  When  the  water  falls, 
at  ebb-tide,  the  cold  is  already  so  severe  by  the  end  of 
September  that  the  coast,  up  to  the  high-water  mark,  is  covered 
with  a  crust  of  ice,  a  thin  layer  being  deposited  at  every  ebb. 
In  the  course  of  October  and  November  the  ice-foot  has  reached 
its  full  thickness  and  forms  a  belt  along  the  coast,  a  ribbon  of 
ice  following  all  the  branchings  of  the  shore.  The  level  of  the 
top  of  the  ice-foot  marks  the  highest  tide  of  the  year.  Viewed 
from  the  sea-ice  it  stands  boldly  like  a  wall. 

Where  the  coast  consists  of  steep  mountains  the  ice-foot 
is  quite  narrow,  because  in  these  places  it  hangs  on  the  sides  of 
the  cliffs  without  support  beneath ;  but  where  the  coast  is  flat 
the  bottom  of  the  sea  supports  it,  and  in  this  case  it  is  often 
very  broad.  In  no  place  is  it  broader  than  along  the  coast  of 
Kane  Basin,  where  it  measures  from  sixty  to  one  hundred 
metres. 

It  was  a  joy  to  us  all  to  shoot  along  this  lovely  road.     We 

58 


GREENLAND   BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

followed  the  foot  of  the  beautiful  sandstone  mountains  which, 
with  flaming  red  colours,  fresh  as  ruddy  cheeks  against  the 
white  snow,  flanked  our  way.  Out  to  seaward  of  us  were  the 
pressed-up  ice-floes  of  Kane  Basin,  where  deejpjnow  made_bad 
travelling,  and,  as  we  passed  above  it,  raised  beyond  all  its 
difficulties  on  the  chaussee  of  the  tidal  waters,  wantonly  we 
cracked  our  whips  at  all  this  devilment  which  we  had  robbed 
of  all  opportunity  to  trip  us  up  and  hinder  our  quick  progress. 
Washington  Land  could  already  be  discerned  ahead.  Every- 
where was  April's  sun  and  high  spirits. 

At  Cape  Taney  we  passed  four  large  tower-traps  and  six 
ordinary  fox-traps ;  the  former  are  rather  common  here  but 
unknown  in  the  rest  of  western  Greenland. 

A  tower-trap  is  about  170  centimetres  high,  built  in  the 
form  of  a  beacon  ;  the  Eskimos  call  it  Uvdlisat,  which  signifies 
a  trap  which  may  be  left  for  several  days  without  inspection. 
The  foxes  are  caught  in  the  following  manner  :  Rotten  seals 
are  put  at  the  bottom  of  the  hollow  stone  beacon,  which  is  built 
in  such  a  way  that  it  is  roomy  at  the  base  and  very  narrow 
towards  the  top.  So  as  not  to  arouse  the  suspicions  of  the  fox, 
the  opening  is  covered  with  willow  branches  smeared  with 
blood.  When  a  fox  jumps  down  into  a  trap  it  cannot  get  up 
again ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  several  foxes  may  be 
caught  in  the  same  trap. 

At  Marshall  Bay  we  divided  into  two  parties,  so  that  eleven 
sledges,  with  Dr.  Wulff  as  leader,  drove  right  out  on  the  broad 
bay  where  travelling  was  easiest,  while  Koch  and  I  with  two 
other  sledges  drove  inland  by  the  head  of  the  bay  looking  for 
Eskimo  ruins.  For  our  guide  we  had  the  great  Tornge,  who 
had  lived  here  himself  in  1916.  His  longing  for  reindeer- 
hunting  had  lured  him  to  these  northern  parts.  Next  to  bear- 
hunting,  reindeer-hunting  is  the  most  exciting  game  an  Eskimo 
knows.  It  is  considered  more  "swell"  to  catch  a  bear,  but 
otherwise  the  hunting  of  reindeer  is  without  comparison  the 
most  elegant.  Wild  reindeer  are  very  shy,  and  to  get  within 
shooting  distance  not  only  skill  and  cunning  is  required  but  also 
an  incredible  amount  of  endurance.  They  provide  both  tender 
54 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

and  savoury  meat  and  delicious  tallow,  and  their  skins  are  in 
great  demand. 

The  place  where  Tornge  wintered  is  called  by  the  Eskimos 
Inugarfigssuaq  or  '"Great  Blood-Bath  Fjord."  As  in  all 
places  where  human  activity  has  left  its  marks,  tales  are  bound 
up  with  the  country.     Tornge  tells  the  following  : 

At  the  time  when  there  were  many  people  and  all  countries 
were  inhabited,  many  houses  were  to  be  found  by  the  Bight  of 
Qaqaitsut  near  Advance  Bay,  not  far  from  the  great  glacier. 

One  day  two  boys  started  fighting  here  ;  their  grandfathers 
stood  looking  on.  It  so  happened  that  one  of  the  old  men 
interfered  and  started  thrashing  one  of  the  boys.  But  the 
other  grandfather  became  so  enraged  by  seeing  his  grandchild 
thrashed,  that  he  went  forth  and  killed  the  grandchild  of  the 
other  man.  But  then  the  first  grandfather  killed  the  other 
grandchild  and  the  murder  of  the  two  boys  gave  occasion  for 
everybody  at  the  camp  to  take  sides ;  so  the  first  thing  they 
did  was  to  kill  both  the  grandfathers.  This  beginning  made 
people  wild  and  gave  rise  to  a  senseless  slaughter.  A  madness 
which  no  one  could  explain  had  seized  on  the  camp,  and  all 
travelled  southward,  fleeing  and  killing,  so  that  all  the  little 
bays  the  sledges  had  to  cross  were  filled  with  slaughtered  men. 
And  all  the  dead  showed  black  against  the  white  ice,  just  like 
seals  sunning  themselves  on  a  spring  day.  How  long  the 
killing  lasted  no  one  knows  ;  but  suddenly  they  discovered  that 
rage  had  carried  them  so  far  that  really  one  had  no  quarrel  at 
all  with  the  man  one  killed.  Then  they  stopped,  heartbroken 
over  the  wrong  they  had  committed.  But  the  flight  continued 
southwards  to  lands  where  the  sun  was  warmer  and  the  winter 
nights  shorter. 

And  the  largest  of  the  fjords  where  most  dead  were  lying 
was  later  on  called  "Great  Blood-Bath  Fjord.   .   .   ." 

This  is  a  simple  and  naive  Eskimo  tale  of  the  origin  of  war 
— naive,  but  eternally  true  wherever  man  kills. 

This  myth  Tornge  told  us  as  an  introduction  to  the  tale  of 

55 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

his  wintering.  He  was  interested  in  everything  connected 
with  the  camp  and  the  hunt,  and  with  great  perspicuity  he 
gave  us  a  picture  of  the  life  he  had  led  so  that  all  his  great  and 
small  joys  stood  lifelike  before  us. 

As  a  rule  the  winter-ice  lies  untouched  until  the  following 
autumn.  But  the  end  of  August  or  the  beginning  of 
September — so  late  that  a  thin  ice  is  already  being  formed — 
the  rivers  melt  round  basin-like  holes  in  the  ice  at  their  mouths, 
and  a  fissure  which  during  summer-time  has  formed  off  Cape 
Russell  widens  out  broadly.     This  is  all  the  open  sea  they  have. 

The  inland  tracts  were  prolific  in  hare  and  reindeer. 
Tornge  and  three  camp-fellows  had  killed  no  less  than  a  hundred 
during  the  autumn.  They  had  moved  far  into  the  country  to 
some  large  lakes  situated  near  the  inland-ice,  and  here  they 
had  camped  in  small  stone  huts  during  August  and  September. 
These  huts  are  primitive  houses,  having  walls  of  stone  and  roofs 
of  hide.  Women  and  children  accompanied  the  men  on  these 
expeditions,  remaining  by  the  huts  while  the  men  were  hunting. 

The  best  hunting  memories  of  Tornge's  life  were  linked  up 
with  his  visit  to  the  surroundings  of  Marshall  Bay.  The 
wintering  had  one  drawback  only — it  was  difficult  to  find 
sufficient  food  for  the  dogs,  as  the  seals  did  not  last  out  well. 
One  felt  the  lack  of  narwhal  and  walrus,  which  yield  more 
lasting  food. 

Eiderducks  and  ice-gulls  were  to  be  found  in  all  openings 
of  the  ice,  and  on  the  lakes  long-tailed  ducks  and  loons. 

During  a  hunt  for  reindeer,  salmon  was  found  on  the  top 
of  Cape  Russell  at  a  height  of  about  300  metres.  The  lake  was 
not  very  large,  but  notwithstanding  this  many  salmon  were 
caught,  some  of  them  as  long  as  a  man's  arm. 

In  the  camp  were  found  altogether  eighteen  ruins  of  houses, 
with  many  tent-rings  and  meat-pits.  Tornge's  house  was  an 
old  ruin  which  had  been  repaired.  In  the  wall  we  found  the 
remains  of  whale-ribs,  and  in  the  midden  remains  of  whale, 
walrus,  bearded  seal,  seal,  musk-ox,  reindeer,  fox,  and  hare. 
Fishing-hooks  made  from  the  antlers  of  reindeer  had  also  been 
found. 
56 


NASAITORDLUARSSUK  :     THE    YOUNGEST    MEMI1KR    OP    OUR    EXPEDITION 


THE    LAST    IMMIGRANT    FROM    BAFFIN    I.AM)  :     MERQUSAK 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

Tornge's  house  was  large  and  beautifully  built ;  it  was  of 
the  type  called  Samisulik,  containing  a  large  main  room  with  a 
small  room  at  the  side,  both  provided  with  benches.  In  the 
small  side  room  his  daughter  and  son-in-law  had  been  living. 
A  short  distance  away  we  found  an  unusually  large  ruin,  which 
had  an  inside  circumference  of  rather  more  than  30  metres. 
This  points  to  the  probability  that  local  hunting  conditions 
must  have  been,  also  during  an  earlier  period,  ideal.  The  head- 
land where  the  houses  were  situated  was  full  of  gneiss,  inter- 
sected by  many  well-grown  grass  meadows.  The  place  looked 
kind  and  smiling ;  and  there  was  plenty  of  water,  both  in 
rivulets  and  lakes. 

Three  kilometres  from  the  mainland  there  is  a  small,  steep, 
and  rather  inaccessible  island  of  gneiss,  whose  entire  breadth 
is  about  200  metres,  and  whose  length  is  500  metres.  On  this 
little  island  we  found  no  less  than  ten  houses.  This  strange 
choice  of  a  place  of  habitation  was  probably  due  to  the  easy 
access  which  it  provided  to  the  open  sea  by  Cape  Russell  and 
Cape  Taney ;  besides  which,  the  ice  outside  the  island  is 
probably  a  better  place  for  the  Utut-hunt. 

We  named  the  island  Avortungiaq's  Island,  after  Tornge's 
daughter,  who  was  the  first  to  discover  the  ruins. 

On  another  little  island  nearer  land,  ruins  and  houses  are 
also  found.  The  ruins,  which  are  the  remains  of  an  earlier 
Eskimo  camp,  in  this  comparatively  small  bay  number  about 
sixty.  In  addition  to  the  camps  here  mentioned  ruins  were 
found  by  Cape  Russell,  Cape  Wood,  Dallas  Bay,  and  in  the 
bight  of  Advance  Bay.  On  the  stretch  from  Anoritoq  to  Cape 
Agassiz  one  can  thus  reckon  with  at  least  a  hundred  houses — 
a  surprising  number.  Good  ice-hunting  must  have  taken  place 
here  during  spring  and  autumn,  and,  in  connection  with  the 
land-hunting,  which  must  have  been  uncommonly  good  for  a 
district  like  this,  it  has  evidently  tempted  many  people  to  settle 
here.  The  country  from  the  coast  inward  seems  a  perfect  oasis 
in  this  desert,  for  one  must  go  right  down  to  the  south  before 
one  finds  such  a  broad  expanse  of  land. 

With  the  exception  of  the  houses  on  the  gneiss  headland 

57 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

by  Tornge's  home,  all  ruins  of  houses  on  this  coast  are  remark- 
ably small  in  size.  The  ruins  at  Cape  Wood  consisted  of  eight 
houses  in  a  row,  built  of  sand.  The  bank  of  earth  encircling 
the  house  was  quite  plain  and  large,  and  small  stones  had  been 
added  to  it ;  but  everything  seems  to  indicate  that  the  builders 
must  have  had  some  difficulty  in  procuring  material.  Re- 
mains of  turf  walls  were  not  to  be  found  at  all,  neither  was 
there  any  trace  of  vegetation ;  the  country  was  absolutely 
barren,  and  no  peat  was  discovered  in  the  neighbourhood.  The 
camp  gave  one  the  impression  of  having  been  an  "  experiment 
station."  The  conditions  for  hunting  must  have  been  excel- 
lent. By  a  big  stone  near  the  houses  one  yet  saw  soot  from  a 
cooking-fire.  Wherever  possible  the  ruins  were  measured,  but 
a  proper  exploration  was  out  of  the  question,  as  we  passed  them 
in  the  beginning  of  April  in  30°  (Cent.)  of  cold.  Everything 
was  covered  by  deep  snow. 

April  18th. — On  the  18th  of  April  we  reached  Dallas  Bay, 
from  which,  near  by  Cape  Kent,  we  drove  out  on  Peabody  Bay 
to  cross  over  to  Washington  Land. 

The  first  day's  journey  we  made  fifty-six  kilometres, 
though  for  the  first  twenty  kilometres  we  had  to  toil  slowly 
through  deep  snow.  In  some  places  we  drove  across  awkward 
floes  of  old  ice,  similar  in  character  to  the  edge  of  the  inland- 
ice.  These  floes  have  a  rugged  surface  with  deep  holes,  due 
to  many  summers  of  sunburn ;  they  look  like  a  high  sea,  and 
the  heavy  sledges  bob  up  and  down  on  them  as  ships  on  the 
waves. 

April  19th. — When  we  arrived  approximately  in  the 
middle  of  the  bay,  we  built  a  camp  of  snow-huts,  and  here  for 
the  first  time  we  had  an  excellent  view  of  Humboldt's  Glacier, 
thejargest  glacier  in  Greenland,  so  highly  praised  by  Dr.  Kane. 
Our  expectations  were  tremendous  because  of  his  picturesque 
descriptions,  which  really  do  give  the  picture  of  an  imagination 
overwhelmed  by  the  great  unknown.  I  will  therefore  quote 
this  white  man,  the  first  who  set  eyes  on  this  region. 

"I  will  not  attempt  to  improve  on  reality  by  a  flowery 
description.  Man  can  only  improvise  about  Niagara  or  the 
58 


FROM  THULE  TO  HUMBOLDT'S  GLACIER 

ocean.  My  notes  speak  artlessly  of  the  long  ever-gleaming 
line  of  mountains,  and  of  the  dazzling  plain  of  ice.  The 
mountain-line  raised  itself  like  a  massive,  glass-like  wall,  300 
feet  above  the  sea,  with  unknown,  unfathomable  deeps  at  its 
foot ;  and  its  arched  surface,  sixty  miles  long  from  Cape 
Agassiz  to  Cape  Forbes,  lost  itself  in  unknown  spaces,  no  more 
than  a  single  day's  train  journey  from  the  North  Pole.  The 
inland  regions  with  which  it  was  connected,  and  from  which  it 
issued,  was  an  unknown  iner  de  glace,  an  ocean  of  ice  of,  so 
far  as  one  can  see,  limitless  dimensions. 

"  In  my  inmost  mind  I  had  expected  to  meet  with  such  a 
great  glacier  if  ever  I  was  happy  enough  to  reach  the  north 
coast  of  Greenland ;  but  now,  when  it  lay  before  me,  I  could 
hardly  grasp  it.  Here  it  lay,  plastic,  movable,  a  half-solid 
mass,  crushing  out  life,  swallowing  cliffs  and  islands,  and 
forcing  its  way  with  an  irresistible  movement  down  through  a 
frozen  sea." 

Reality  proved  a  great  disappointment  to  us.  The  glacier 
certainly  was  mighty  in  extent,  for  it  was  about  a  hundred 
kilometres  broad ;  but  for  one  who  is  accustomed  to  travel 
under  the  extravagant  glaciers  of  Melville  Bay,  which  in  a 
single  sneeze  throw  gleaming  iee-mountains  out  into  the  ocean, 
Humboldt's  Glacier  seems  to  be  merely  a  good-natured 
attempt  at  a  half-dead  ice-stream — scarcely  capable  of  repro- 
duction. The  edge  of  the  glacier,  which,  almost  without 
crevasses,  slopes  evenly  as  a  high  road  out  into  Peabody  Bay, 
is  in  most  places  of  a  height  not  exceeding  fifty  metres.  In 
several  places  it  runs  smoothly  down  into  the  water,  so  that  it 
is  easily  accessible  from  a  boat.  Our  survey  showed  that  the 
water  for  the  greater  part  in  Kane  Basin  is  very  low ;  and  the 
little  ice-mountains,  which  approximately  have  the  character 
of  pieces  of  Sikussaq,  are  aground.  A  measurement  of  their 
height  proved  that  Peabody  Bay,  as  far  out  to  sea  as  fifty-six 
kilometres,  was  no  deeper  than  forty  metres. 

Advance  Bay  itself  consists  of  a  lot  of  small,  low  islets,  and 
the  coast  from  Cape  Agassiz  is  cut  up  by  many  shallow  bights, 

59 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

so  that  a  comparatively  small  rise  in  the  ground  here  by  Kane 
Basin  would  reveal  large  stretches  of  land.  It  is  only  possible 
to  understand  the  nature  of  Humboldt's  Glacier  rightly  by 
looking  upon  it  as  a  continuation  of  the  quiet  and  fissure-free 
edge  of  the  inland-ice  which  runs  down  on  Inglefield  Land. 
Thus  it  is  not  correct  to  characterize  Humboldt's  Glacier  as  a 
glacier,  but  only  as  an  even  edge  of  ice  to  which  the  sea 
reaches  up. 

The  overwhelming  impression  made  on  Kane  and  his  fol- 
lowers by  this  glacier  must  have  been  due  to  its  extent.  I 
fully  admit  that,  looked  upon  as  an  ice-stream,  it  is  imposing 
in  its  calm  and  quiet  enormity,  even  if  its  kindly  round  back 
is  quite  different  to  what  one  would  expect  from  the  largest 
glacier  in  Greenland. 


60 


FORWARD    AT    AN    EVEN    TROT 


THK    LITTLE    BEAR,    SURROUNDED    I5Y    ALL    THE    DOGS 


I'KOM     HUMHipLDT    GLACIKR    TO    NEWMAN    BAY 


CHAPTER  III 
WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

WASHINGTON   LAND  TO   HALL   LAND 

ESKIMO  bear-hunters  had  often  told  me  that  on  the  other 
side  of  the  "Great  Glacier"  I  should  find  a  country 
dissimilar  to  theirs.  In  many  places  the  cliffs  were 
whitish-grey,  in  other  places  their  foot  showed  up  black  as  coal ; 
but  only  rarely  did  one  find  vegetation  of  any  kind  in  the  barren 
valleys. 

Now  and  then  hares  would  come  jumping  from  the  moun- 
tain plateaux,  and  it  also  happened  that  the  dogs  would  suddenly 
scent  big  game,  presumably  musk-ox ;  but  in  spite  of  many 
expeditions  inland,  these  had  never  been  found.  What  was 
of  most  interest  to  us,  however,  was  that  the  bear-hunters  also 
spoke  of  many  places  along  the  great  headlands  where  heavy 
currents  met  and  opened  up  the  ice  very  early  in  the  year. 
Many  bearded  seals  were  to  be  found  here,  which  would  pro- 
vide us  with  a  welcome  addition  to  our  stores. 

It  was  therefore  in  a  state  of  great  excitement  that  we 
approached  this  country  which  the  Eskimos  call  Akia — i.e., 
"the  country  on  the  other  side  of  the  Great  Glacier,"  whilst 
the  Americans  have  christened  it  "Washington  Land." 

April  20th. — Driving  had  been  easy  across  the  whole  of 
Peabody  Bay,  so  with  a  distance  of  66  kilometres  behind  us  we 
made  camp  by  an  ice-mountain  off  the  cliffs  of  Cass  Bay  on  the 
evening  of  the  20th  of  April,  under  a  heavy  snowfall  and  grow- 
ing storm.  The  next  morning  we  woke  up  to  the  same  kind 
of  weather,  but,  as  we  were  all  impatient  to  get  northward,  we 
had  no  time  to  consider  this.  Lauge  Koch  went  on  land  near 
Cape  Clay,  whilst  I  rounded  Cass  Bay  along  the  ice-foot  to  see 

61 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

if  I  could  not  come  across  winter-houses  which  might  continue 
the  chain  of  the  surprisingly  many  we  had  passed  at  Inglefield 
Land.  The  result  was  a  negative  one,  and  we  had  to  be  con- 
tented with  the  finding  of  a  number  of  meat-pits  of  the  ordinary 
Eskimo  type ;  a  single  tent-ring  we  also  found,  but  it  was  a 
square  one,  and  therefore  would  be  one  of  the  remains  from 
Morton's  and  Hans  Hendrik's  voyage. 

Late  in  the  evening  we  came  back  to  the  tent-camp,  with 
wind-bitten  faces  and  stiff  limbs,  and  soon  discovered  that 
something  joyous  mustTiave  happened.  The  camp  was  in  a 
tumult.  The  Eskimos  ran  towards  us  with  loud  shouts,  and 
now  and  then  they  would  spring  up  in  the  air  slapping  their 
thighs — always  a  sign  of  happiness.  As  soon  as  we  were 
within  shouting  distance,  we  were  informed  that  Koch  and 
Inukitsoq  had  shot  a  bear  off  Cape  Clay,  and  the  "  Star"  and 
Majaq  had  slain  another  two  bears  not  far  from  the  tent-camp. 
This  news  meant  fresh  and  savoury  meat  in  the  pots  for  many 
a  day  ahead,  and  a  change  in  diet  from  walrus  to  bear  is  always 
beneficial. 

In  addition  to  the  successful  bear-hunt,  Koch  had  had  a 
great  geological  success,  as  he  had  found  rich  stone-bearing 
strata  on  the  stretch  of  coast  which  he  had  examined. 

Nothing  is  more  stimulating  on  a  voyage  than  the  success 
of  a  comrade,  and  as  the  results  of  the  day  had  been  rather 
poor  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  I  decided  to  continue  the  jour- 
ney towards  Humboldt's  Glacier  on  the  next  day  whilst  my 
comrades  continued  northward.  At  this  early  stage  of  the 
voyage  we  could  not  afford  to  let  the  whole  of  the  expedition 
wait  for  me,  wherefore  I  must  try  to  make  a  double  journey 
and  overtake  the  others  in  the  course  of  the  next  two  days. 

I  knew  there  ought  to  be  houses  in  the  vicinity,  as  many 
hunters,  through  their  parents,  had  heard  tales  of  a  camp  north 
of  Humboldt's  Glacier ;  but  nobody  knew  where  it  was 
situated,  and  the  problem  was  to  find  the  place.  I  therefore 
started  my  journey  in  along  the  coast  early  next  day,  while  all 
the  other  sledges  in  a  long  row  continued  slowly  northward. 
Koch  wished  to  pay  a  supplementary  call  at  Cape  Clay,  and 
62 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

with  Inukitsoq  as  our  companion  we  started  explorations  in 
good  spirits,  having  firmly  decided  not  to  give  up.  We  pro- 
gressed along  the  ice-foot,  so  that  nothing  could  escape  our 
attention.  The  passage  here  was  often  impossible  and  certain 
distances  had  to  be  driven  on  a  most  uncomfortable  Sikussaq 
ice,  a  sign  that  the  bays  here  are  hardly  ever  free  of  ice. 

At  last,  12  kilometres  east  of  Cape  Clay,  some  way  into 
Benton's  Bay,  my  toil  was  rewarded  with  success.  The  ice- 
foot in  this  place  was  Aery  high  and  ridged,  but  a  sudden 
impulse  made  me  stop  by  one  of  the  most  inaccessible  places, 
and  I  climbed  upwards  across  neck-breaking  ridges.  My 
instinctive  scent  of  houses  was  correct,  for  before  me  lay  the 
camp  for  which  I  had  searched  in  vain.  It  consisted  of  alto- 
gether six  winter-houses,  numerous  tent-circles,  and  large, 
roomy  meat-pits.  The  houses  were  built  right  on  the  beach  on 
sand  and  pebbles.  The  material  consisted  entirely  of  stones,  flat 
and  oblong,  and  although  some  of  them  were  not  quite  small, 
it  was  easy  to  see  that  it  had  been  difficult  to  procure  fitting 
material.  A  well-built  house  has  an  elaborate  joining  of  walls 
and  roof,  but  there  was  no  sign  at  all  of  any  such  arrangements 
here.  In  spite  of  a  thorough  examination,  I  did  not  find  any 
kind  of  vegetation  in  the  vicinity.  One  of  the  houses  was 
square,  which  is  quite  unusual  in  Eskimo  architecture  and  must 
owe  its  form  to  consideration  of  the  material.  The  others 
were  of  the  usual  beehive  shape.  We  found  only  one  remark- 
ably large  house,  a  so-called  Quarajalik,  consisting  of  two 
houses  built  together,  but  with  a  common  entrance.  Whale- 
ribs  were  also  found  built  into  the  houses ;  they  seemed  to  be 
inevitable  in  the  architecture  of  this  district. 

The  meat-pits  were  similar  in  form  and  size  to  those  we  had 
measured  and  sketched  in  Melville  Bay ;  in  some  instances  the 
stones  had  been  put  on  edge — an  uncommon  method.  Fur- 
thermore we  found  Qulisivit — stone  hives  wherein  meat  is 
dried.  All  this  bore  witness  that  the  catch  here  had  been  a 
good  one. 

In  addition  to  the  ruins  already  mentioned  I  found  ten 
tent-rings.     Some  of  these  were  unusually  large  and  built  with 

63 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR    SEA 

comparatively  high  stone  walls,  so  that  they  gave  one  the  im- 
pression of  having  been  a  sort  of  structure  between  a  house 
and  a  tent.  It  may  be  that  lack  of  material  has  led  to  an 
invention  peculiar  to  this  locality. 

I  have  mentioned  the  excellent  conditions  for  seal-hunting 
which  this  neighbourhood  offers ;  even  for  Eskimos  with  very 
primitive  hunting  gear  it  cannot  have  been  difficult  to  procure 
their  daily  food.  The  catch  must  have  been  chiefly  seal,  and 
there  may  also  have  been,  especially  in  spring  and  autumn,  a 
good  hunt  of  ice-bears  in  Peabody  Bay,  and  of  reindeer  and 
musk-ox  in  Inglefield  Land. 

April  23rd. — I  was  glad  that  the  energetic  explorations 
during  these  latter  days  had  given  such  good  results ;  for  the 
ruins  found  and  measured  by  me  pushed  the  record  of  Eskimo 
ruins  to  the  north  side  of  Humboldt's  Glacier ;  and  as  my  aim 
was  to  collect  material  for  a  contribution  to  a  study  of  the 
Eskimos'  wanderings  north  of  Greenland,  I  considered  the 
start  made  was  a  good  one.  The  point  was  now  to  prove 
whether  camps  had  existed  further  ahead  along  our  route ;  and 
even  if  at  the  outset  one  might  take  it  for  granted,  with  some 
degree  of  certainty,  that  habitation  must  have  been  somewhat 
fitful  all  the  way  along  this  inhospitable  coast,  I  had  some 
reason  to  hope  for  decisive  results  in  the  great  fjords  between 
Cape  Bryan  and  Cape  Washington  north  of  de  Long  Fjord. 

Encouraged  by  our  good  luck,  we  set  out  at  once  to  over- 
take our  comrades  and  the  pack-sledges  which  had  already  a 
day's  start  of  us. 

Near  Cape  Webster  we  met  Uvdloriaq,  previously  a  mem- 
ber of  the  first  Thule  Expedition.  He  was  now  engaged  with 
a  pack-sledge,  and  although  he  originally  should  have  accom- 
panied us  right  up  to  Cape  Constitution,  he  had  had  to  stop 
here,  as  severe  and  painful  sciatica  prevented  him  from  navigat- 
ing the  sledge  across  the  pressure-ice  and  on  the,  in  some  places, 
rather  awkward  ice-foot. 

Round  this  steep  red  cape  a  fresh  wind  and  a  sweeping 
snow-spray  is  always  blowing,  and  Uvdloriaq  had  been  forced, 
in  spite  of  his  pains,  to  build  himself  a  snow-hut  against  the 
64 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

mountain-side.  Here  we  stopped,  and  as  we  found  Koch 
busily  collecting  fossils  a  little  way  ahead,  we  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  make  ourselves  a  cup  of  cocoa  to  celebrate  as  cheer- 
fully as  possible  the  parting  with  our  old  comrade. 

The  whole  coast  of  Washington  Land  had,  like  Inglefield 
Land,  a  broad  ice-foot  where  driving  was  easy;  we  first 
mounted  this  at  Cape  Webster,  as  the  sea-ice  up  to  that  point 
had  been  good.  After  an  hour's  rest  we  continued  the 
journey,  but  unfortunately  we  did  not  succeed  in  overtaking 
our  comrades  on  that  day,  for  when  we  came  to  Morris  Bay  we 
had  covered  a  distance  of  90  kilometres ;  we  ourselves  were 
sleepy,  and  it  is  always  unwise  to  overstrain  the  dogs  at  the 
start. 

The  coast  mountains,  reaching  a  height  of  from  200  to  300 
metres,  were  everywhere  rich  in  fossils  and  often  of  unusual 
beauty.  The  reaches  from  Cape  Webster  to  Wright  Bay 
especially  impressed  us.  Here  we  found  limestone  mountains 
of  phantastic  formation,  with  grey,  cold  colours  at  their  foot, 
and  near  the  summit  glowing  red  shades  finely  attuned.  The 
formations  themselves  with  their  massive  contours  led  one's 
thoughts  back  to  the  burghs  of  the  Middle  Ages,  where  the 
wide  gateways  were  not  the  least  imposing  feature  of  this 
natural  architecture.  Near  Cape  Callhourn  the  country 
changed  character.  The  steep  mountain-sides,  which  gave  an 
impression  of  sky-scrapers — because  we  on  the  ice-foot  drove 
right  underneath  them — were  relieved  by  low  country  sloping 
evenly  and  picturesquely  upwards ;  simultaneously  the  ice-foot 
turned  into  a  broad  and  snowless  chaussce  which  made  the 
dogs  go  for  dear  life. 

We  looked  in  vain  for  game.  Sometimes  the  dogs  got 
the  scent,  so  that  any  moment  we  expected  to  see  the  black 
fluttering  coat  of  a  musk-ox  in  one  of  the  broad-bottomed 
doughs.     But  nothing  living  could  we  discover. 

We  made  camp  hurriedly  and  after  six  hours'  rest  we  con- 
tinued, to  overtake  our  comrades  at  last  near  Cape  Jefferson ; 
they  had  camped  right  off  a  coral  reef  which,  in  this  landscape, 
had  a  paradoxical  effect. 
E  65 


GREENLAND   BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

The  reunion  was  a  merry  one.  They  had  shot  a  small  bear, 
which  was  already  half  eaten  when  we  arrived ;  and,  in  spite 
of  its  shyness,  a  small  hare  also  had  had  to  lay  down  its  life  for 
Tornge's  sure  aim.  The  antlers  of  a  reindeer  which  were 
found  a  short  distance  inland  we  looked  at  with  interest. 

After  a  short  rest,  during  which  we  were  given  our  part  of 
the  tender  bear-flesh,  we  drove  on  and  reached  in  the  morning 
Cape  Constitution,  having  passed  a  lot  of  pressure-ice  in 
Lafayette  Bay. 

April  24£/i. — In  Lafayette  Bay  the  dogs  had  repeatedly  got 
the  scent,  and  after  some  minutes  of  hot  pursuit  we  had  as  a 
rule  met  with  fresh  tracks.  But  as  it  was  difficult  to  follow  the 
trails  across  the  awkward  pressure-ridges,  where  the  sledges 
frequently  toppled  over  among  the  uneven  ice-blocks,  we  had 
had  to  give  up  the  hunt.  But  the  dogs'  keenness  was  now 
aroused,  and  although  the  journeys  of  the  last  few  days  had 
been  very  long,  and  the  load  on  the  sledges  weighed  at  least 
500  kilograms,  the  speed  increased  during  the  night.  In  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  big  Crozier  Island  the  dogs  forgot  all 
their  weariness  and  galloped  along  towards  Cape  Constitution. 

During  the  monotonous  everyday  drive  the  dogs  are  always 
hypnotized  forward  by  the  will  of  the  driver ;  herein  lies  all  the 
art  of  dog-driving.  But  if  something  unusual  happens  and  the 
dogs  stand  trembling  against  the  wind  with  quivering  nostrils, 
then  it  is  often  the  animal  which  influences  the  man.  Thus  it 
was  to-day ;  even  we  were  smitten  with  the  contagious  hunting 
fever. 

Hardly  had  we  pulled  in  under  the  grey  mountain-sides 
when  off  they  rushed  with  us.  Three  times  fresh  bear-tracks 
pointed  forward,  and  the  dogs,  who  had  been  cheated  several 
times  during  the  day,  now  seemed  firmly  decided  to  overtake 
the  bear  so  that  the  journey  might  end  with  a  meal  of  fresh  meat. 

The  wind  had  blown  away  the  snow  along  the  mountain- 
sides, and  the  sledges  shot  across  little  blocks  of  pressure-ice 
with  such  speed  that  I  often  feared  that  the  runners  would 
break.  In  a  bay  between  Cape  Constitution  and  Cape 
Independence  I  made  a  halt  by  an  ice-mountain,  well  adapted 
66 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

for  a  camping-ground.  The  dogs  were  very  disappointed 
because  the  hunt  had  been  interrupted,  and  gave  vent  to  their 
impatience  with  a  loud  yelping  which  made  the  echoes  vibrate 
between  the  steep  mountains  of  the  bay. 

A  little  way  behind  me  the  other  sledges  came  on,  and  as 
soon  as  they  discovered  that  I  was  on  the  point  of  unloading, 
they  gave  their  dogs  the  bear-signal  and  came  rushing  towards 
me  at  a  desperate  speed.  We  spread  out  over  the  ice  in 
different  directions,  but  even  here  it  was  difficult  to  follow  the 
tracks  because  the  snow  had  drifted  so  firmly  together  that  no 
marks  were  left  after  the  bears'  paws.  After  four  hours' 
tracking  we  had  to  give  up  the  hunt,  and  one  by  one  the 
sledges  returned  to  the  camp,  slowly  and  hesitatingly,  with  dis- 
appointed drivers  and  disgusted  dogs. 

But  up  above  from  the  highest  summit  of  Cape  Constitu- 
tion a  falcon  sailed  down  to  meet  us ;  proud  and  silent,  it  swept 
towards  us  with  pointed  wings  restfully  spread  out,  to  bid  us 
welcome  to  its  royal  hunting-grounds.  But  as  it  reached  our 
camp  and  set  its  little  cold  eyes  on  our  loads  which,  in  our 
eagerness  for  the  hunt,  we  had  thrown  about  in  wild  disorder, 
we  heard  a  screech  which  quickly  turned  into  derisive  laughter. 

It  saw  in  an  instant  that  this  was  not  a  meeting  with  com- 
petitors, and  to  show  its  contempt  it  beat  out  in  a  quick  circle 
across  the  ice  where  the  bears  had  escaped. 

We  all  stood  near  our  sledges,  looking  after  it  with  poorly 
disguised  envy ;  for  we  knew  that  the  falcon  would,  with  the 
same  shrill  laughter,  in  the  course  of  a  few  minutes  glide 
above  the  big  game  which  in  vain  we  had  tracked  all  through 
the  day. 

WE   WRITE   TO   DENMARK 

April  25th. — For  the  last  time  we  made  a  large  camp.  Five 
pack-sledges  must  now  return,  so  that  only  two  men  remained 
to  accompany  us  to  Hall's  Grave. 

But  before  the  sledges  left  us,  we  were  to  write  our  last 
letters  home ;  for  one  of  the  musk-ox  hunters  we  met  at 
Anoritok,  and  who  lived  right  down  by  Cape  Seddon  in  the 

67 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

southern  part  of  Melville  Bay,  had  promised  to  wait  for  our 
mail.  From  Cape  Seddon  they  would  be  brought  by  one  of 
the  whalers  by  the  end  of  May  to  the  district  of  Upernivik, 
from  whence  they  would  reach  Denmark  some  time  during 
the  course  of  the  summer. 

Our  camp  was  bitterly  cold  and  there  was  a  strong  wind, 
but  nevertheless  we  worked  busily  at  our  reports  ;  the  already 
considerable  collection  of  fossils  was  suitably  packed  for  being 
sent  southward. 

In  the  afternoon  everything  was  ready,  and  the  pack- 
sledges  at  once  started  on  the  homeward  journey  so  that  they 
might  not  unnecessarily  waste  our  provisions  and  the  food 
for  our  dogs.  Their  departure  was  quick  and  without  cere- 
mony, as  is  the  custom  amongst  hunters ;  but  we  knew  that 
their  thoughts  would  often  dwell  on  our  fate,  for  they  are  all 
men  whose  lives  have  been  spent  on  long  journeys,  and  they 
know  by  experience  how  quickly  evil  and  good  interchange  in 
the  life  of  a  hunter. 

They  are  :  The  great  Tornge,  who,  after  an  unsuccessful 
journey  towards  the  North  Pole,  has  fought  for  life  through  a 
long  winter  by  the  big  Lake  Hazen  in  Grant  Land ;  the  hand- 
some Pauluna,  who  has  shared  in  the  adventurous  winterings  by 
Cape  Sheridan ;  and  finally  Majaq,  the  courageous  hunter  who 
played  the  part  of  the  northernmost  provision  dealer  in  the 
world  at  Renslaer  Harbour. 

When  we  took  leave  of  these  men  something  happened 
which  moved  me  deeply.  Besides  those  mentioned  as  re- 
turning, young  Inukitsoq  was  also  present ;  he  had  his  bap- 
tism of  fire  during  the  first  Thule  Expedition,  and  together 
with  Uvdloriaq  he  is  well  known  to  those  who  have  read  my 
travelling  diary  of  1912.  Once  during  serious  difficulties  we 
promised  each  other  that  we  would  never  undertake  such  a 
journey  again.  Inukitsoq  kept  his  word,  I  broke  mine.  We 
remembered  this  incident  during  all  the  fun  of  leave-taking, 
which  the  Eskimos  appreciate  so  highly,  and  he  became  sud- 
denly very  serious  and  went  up  to  his  team  of  dogs,  which  is 
renowned  throughout  the  tribe  as  the  strongest  and  most 
68 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

enduring.  Without  a  word  he  unharnessed  three  of  his 
strongest  and  best  dogs  and  brought  them  to  me  with  the  pro- 
posal that  I  should  exchange  for  them  the  three  poorest  ones 
of  my  team.  Only  the  man  who  knows  the  value  of  sledge- 
dogs  will  be  able  to  appreciate  this  friendly  act. 

In  the  afternoon,  immediately  after  the  pack-sledges  had 
left,  we  made  ready  to  break  camp,  and  drove  off  in  the  cool 
sunlit  night  northward  along  Brown's  coast.  We  constantly 
came  across  bear-tracks,  but  having  gained  experience  through 
our  many  unsuccessful  attempts,  we  decided  not  to  put  an 
extra  strain  on  the  dogs ;  keenness  for  the  hunt  wears  them 
down,  especially  when  the  result  is  a  negative  one. 

Some  way  out  on  Kennedy  Channel  we  met  with  a  high, 
difficult  pressure-ridge,  through  which  we  had  to  hew  our  way 
with  axes.  It  represents  several  years  of  Polar-ice  which  has 
drifted  into  the  channel  and  been  ground  together  by  current 
and  wind.  For  long  stretches  we  passed  the  ill-famed 
Sikussaq,  which  is  so  dangerous  for  heavy-laden  sledges.  And 
right  enough,  one  of  our  sledges  was  driven  to  pieces.  When 
we  had  tied  it  together  with  straps  we  decided  to  break  through 
towards  land ;  we  succeeded,  and  here,  to  our  great  joy,  we 
found  good  and  easy  new  ice. 

April  26th. — Thanks  to  this  circumstance,  we  reached  the 
south-west  side  of  Cape  Bryan,  where  we  made  camp  at 
ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  during  the  beginning  of  a  snow- 
storm. The  distance  covered  during  the  day's  journey  of  four- 
teen hours  was  66  kilometres,  in  spite  of  considerable  delays 
caused  by  the  pressure-ice.  All  through  the  night  we  had  a 
view  of  the  steep  coast  mountains  on  Grinnell's  Land,  which 
with  their  glacier-swathed  peaks  looked  like  spirit  forms 
against  the  banal  pressure-ice  of  Kennedy  Channel. 

Thanks  to  the  snowstorm,  we  had  our  first  long  and  un- 
stinted sleep  since  the  departure  from  Etah.  The  violent 
gusts  which  occasionally  swept  down  from  the  300  metres  high 
mountains  occasionally  threatened  to  tear  down  the  tent  above 
our  heads  ;  but  the  thin  canvas  bravely  resisted  the  attack  of  the 

69 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

storm,  and  we  were  warm  and  comfortable  in  our  sleeping-bags 
and  relished  doubly  the  sweetness  of  rest  which  is  the  reward 
only  of  honest  toil. 

April  27th. — A  little  after  midnight  we  woke  up  and  pulled 
ourselves  together  sufficiently  to  make  a  refreshing  cup  of 
cocoa  ;  then,  as  the  storm  persisted  in  sweeping  across  the  tents 
and  seemed  to  be  still  on  the  increase,  we  let  sleep  have  its  will 
with  us  and  slept  sweetly  until  dawn.  We  then  broke  camp 
and  continued.  Taught  by  yesterday's  experience,  we  kept 
closely  to  land,  occasionally  driving  upon  the  ice-foot  wherever 
this  was  possible.  Thus  driving  was  fairly  easy  along  our 
route,  whilst  out  in  the  channel  the  pressure-ice  was  even  worse 
than  on  the  previous  day. 

Off  Cape  Bryan  we  got  quite  clear  of  the  pressure-ice  and 
made  good  speed  on  the  almost  snowless  ice  which  seemed  to 
have  settled  late  in  the  autumn.  Off  Hannah  Island  we  found 
the  carcase  of  a  seal,  half -eaten  by  a  bear. 

We  passed  Bessel  Fjord  in  a  fresh  breeze,  and  the  peculiar 
indentation,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  steep  mountains  inter- 
sected by  hanging  tongues  of  ice,  looked  eerie  and  desolate. 
We  halted  by  Cape  Morton,  and  as  the  storm  was  still  on  the 
increase,  we  succumbed  to  a  momentary  laziness  and  made 
camp,  although  we  really  meant  to  cross  Petermann  Fjord  on 
this  day. 

April  28th. — However,  later  in  the  day  we  found  that  our 
laziness  was  merely  a  proof  that  we  had  eyes  in  the  back  of  our 
head  as  well.     This  is  how  it  happened  : 

As  soon  as  the  dogs  were  fed,  and  the  tent  stayed  so  as  to 
be  able  to  withstand  the  storm,  Koch  and  I  decided  to  take 
Inukitsoq  and  set  out  on  a  small  excursion  to  the  bay  in  our 
immediate  vicinity.  Surrounded  by  high  mountains,  the  head 
of  the  bay  looked  very  inviting  with  a  high  terrace-like  beach 
stretching  like  an  amphitheatre  up  towards  a  broad,  dead 
glacier. 

Here  Koch  and  Inukitsoq  found  an  old  depot  from  Nares' 
1875-76  Expedition  a  little  way  above  the  beach.  It  consisted 
of  six  boxes,  each  containing  four  9-pound  tins  of  Australian 
70 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

mutton,  fresh  and  delicious  as  if  it  had  been  left  only  the  previous 
day.     Next  to  the  boxes  we  found  a  broken  barrel  marked  : 

Arctic  Service. 

H.M.S.   "DISCOVERY." 

Sugar. 

Unfortunately  a  sweet-toothed  bear  had  been  here  before 
us,  and  this  was  all  the  more  annoying  as  sugar  happened  to 
be  the  article  which  we  all  coveted.  So  we  had  to  content  our- 
selves with  unusually  well-preserved  boiled  beef.  The  tins 
were  marked  :  "  Meat  Preserving  Co.,  Ltd.  Agents,  Wother- 
spoon  and  Co.     Works,  Winton  Southland,  N.Z." 

For  a  long  time  we  were  thus  able  to  live  grandly  on  food 
originally  meant  for  Arctic  colleagues  who  had  travelled  here 
before  any  of  us  were  born.  Our  thanks  to  the  brave  English- 
men who  left  it  here ;  our  compliments  to  the  excellent  firm 
which  prepared  this  durable  article ! 

Besides  the  mutton  we  found  a  large  tin  containing  20  kilo- 
grams of  tallow,  which  was  the  dogs'  share  in  this  unexpected 
meal. 

April  29th. — We  had  to  stay  here  for  yet  another  day 
because  of  the  violent  storm.  Although  the  snow  seemed  firm 
and  the  ice  in  many  places  lay  bare  and  shiny,  now  and  then 
there  was  such  a  thick  drift  that  the  high  mountains  on  the 
other  side  of  Petermann  Fjord  disappeared.  At  length, 
towards  evening,  the  wind  calmed  down  so  that  we  could  break 
up  and  cross  the  fjord. 

This  fjord  looked  quaint  and  foreign  in  its  surroundings. 
Everywhere  the  mountains  along  the  coast  fall  steeply  down 
towards  the  ice,  and  the  dark-brownish  tones  showed  gloomy 
and  serious  against  the  even,  white  inland-ice  which  appears 
everywhere  as  a  bank  of  white  fog  behind  the  coastland.  In 
several  places  along  the  fjord,  tongues  of  the  glacier  shoot 
down  between  the  mountains,  but  at  no  point  here  is  the  pro- 
duction of  ice-mountains  apparent.  On  the  whole,  it  seems 
that  the  ice  up  here  on  the  northernmost  latitudes  differs  from 
the  ice  further  southward,  in  that  in  no  place  does  one  find  real 

71 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

ice-mountains.  Even  the  blocks  which  now  and  then  calve 
off  from  Humboldt's  Glacier  look  like  huge  pieces  of  Polar-ice. 
In  some  places  these  are  rather  large,  but  never  did  we  see 
them  of  such  a  height  that  they  might  be  called  icebergs,  such 
as  we  know  from  the  glaciers  near  Inglefield  Gulf,  Wolsten- 
holme  Sound,  and  Melville  Bay. 

After  a  few  hours'  driving  it  was  manifest  that  we  had 
been  right  in  waiting  whilst  the  storm  was  on,  for  even  now. 
after  the  snow  had  ceased  to  drift,  the  wind  blew  so  hard  from 
the  fjord  that  we  had  difficulty  in  standing  when  the  FohnAike 
squalls  whirled  around  us.  The  sky  was  uncannily  beautiful, 
with  big  balloon-like  clouds  drifting  along  under  the  pressure 
of  a  hurricane.  The  ice  seemed  to  have  lain  immovable  here, 
as  it  consisted  entirely  of  uneven  Sikiissaq.  Frequently  we 
were  blown  out  into  great  basins  formed  during  the  ice-melting 
of  the  summer,  big  lakes  up  to  1  kilometre  long  covered  with 
fresh-water  ice,  shiny  as  a  mirror  where  neither  men  nor  dogs 
could  find  a  footing.  Powerless  to  resist,  we  were  flung  away 
and  slid  along  limply  towards  the  opposite  shore  with  the  sledge 
in  front  and  the  miserably  whining  dogs  behind  us.  Here  we 
had  to  keep  all  our  wits  about  us  in  order  to  prevent  the  sledge- 
runners  being  broken.  But  it  would  have  been  hopeless  to 
attempt  to  make  camp  here,  and  in  spite  of  everything  we  had 
to  let  matters  take  their  course,  for  in  no  place  could  we  find 
shelter  for  a  tent ;  and  the  complete  absence  of  snow  on  the 
ice  seemed  to  indicate  that  in  this  neighbourhood  storms  were 
the  order  of  the  day.  After  twelve  hours'  tussle  with  wind 
and  slippery  ice,  we  at  last  reached  Offley  Island. 

April  30th. — In  the  shelter  of  the  small  but  high  and  steep 
island  the  tent  was  erected,  and  after  that  we  attempted  a 
musk-ox  hunt.  This  tract  consisted  of  dark  limestone ;  it  was 
quite  barren  and  gloomy.  The  storm  whipped  across  it  with 
such  violence  that  it  was  often  quite  impossible  to  go  against 
the  wind.  In  spite  of  all  our  efforts  the  long  chase  had  no 
result.  We  found  no  track  of  game  and  the  country  was 
almost  void  of  vegetation. 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

During  the  night  we  continued  northward  under  the  same 
difficult  travelling  conditions,  being  swept  along  the  shiny  ice- 
by  the  wind.  Not  until  we  were  about  six  miles  from  Hall's 
Thank  God  Harbour  did  we  reach  a  quiet  zone  with  sufficient 
snow ;  then  the  dogs,  joyous  in  the  sensation  that  they  could 
once  more  stand  firmly,  set  off  at  a  sharp  run  so  that  early  in 
the  morning  we  were  by  Hall's  Grave,  where  we  camped. 

On  this  last  part  of  our  journey  we  saw  several  breathing- 
holes  of  seals,  but  although  we  might  have  hunted  near  these 
holes  with  some  success,  we  were,  thanks  to  the  many  tins  of 
savoury  mutton  which  Nares'  Expedition  so  kindly  had  left 
us  at  Cape  Lucie  Marie,  more  interested  in  our  progress  than 
in  the  procuring  of  fresh  meat. 

The  sea-ice  between  Offley  Island  and  Hall's  Grave  was 
young  autumn  ice,  a  broad  belt  stretching  from  the  coast  and 
outward.  It  would  seem  that  everywhere  here,  probably  dur- 
ing the  month  of  August,  the  sea  opens  up  along  the  land.  But 
one  need  not  go  far  out  into  the  basin  before  one  finds  floes  of 
several  years'  old  Polar-ice,  which  is  just  as  uninviting  for 
sledges  as  it  is  for  ships.  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  a  mistake 
to  lay  down  the  rule  that  the  ice  right  from  the  northern  part 
of  Smith  Sound,  Kane  Basin,  Kennedy  Channel,  Hall  Basin, 
and  Robeson  Channel  works  loose  during  the  short  period  of 
transition  in  August  and  September,  when  sudden  autumn 
storms  fight  with  the  short  Arctic  summer.  This  is  proved 
not  merely  by  the  ice  we  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  every- 
where, but  also  by  the  experiences  of  all  previous  expeditions. 
But  a  real  open  Polar  Sea  is  quite  out  of  the  question,  for  even 
that  part  of  the  Polar  Sea  which  under  the  name  of  Lincoln 
Sea  washes  round  Grant  Land  and  the  north  coast  of  Green- 
land, has  almost  the  same  appearance  summer  and  winter.  In 
certain  places  basins  of  open  water  are  found,  but  they  are 
never  very  extensive  and  always  owe  their  existence  to  some 
local  cause  or  other.  In  the  same  way  broad  or  narrow  fissures 
in  the  Polar  pack-ice  are  formed,  but  these  also  are  quite  local 
and  temporary. 

It  happens  every  summer  that  the  pack-ice  which  is  forced 

73 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

in  from  the  great  Polar  Sea  through  the  relatively  narrow 
channels  which  lead  to  Baffin  Bay,  beats  down  all  resistance 
and  tries  to  find  air  towards  south-south-west.  As  soon  as  this 
enormous  mass  of  ice  starts  moving — partly  owing  to  the  open 
water  off  the  coast,  partly  aided  by  the  current — commences 
towards  Baffin  Bay  that  drift  of  ice  from  the  north  which  for 
periods  creates  comparatively  open  water.  But  it  is  only  open 
water  in  a  certain  sense,  as  on  all  horizons  one  sees  masses  of 
huge  drifting  floes. 

These  are  the  facts  of  the  open  Polar  Sea,  which  right  up 
to  this  year  has  tempted  Polar  expeditions.  As  a  rule  sailing 
is  out  of  the  question — one  merely  drifts  with  the  ice  in  the 
direction  of  the  current. 

These  theories  tempted  the  first  North  Pole  pioneers  to 
push  ahead  as  far  as  possible  northwards  along  the  lands,  and 
it  was  for  this  reason  that  they  chose  winter  camps  so  far 
north ;  they  thus  succeeded  at  a  comparatively  early  period  in 
giving  us  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  country  and  the  life 
of  its  creatures,  whilst  at  the  same  time  they  charted  the  coasts. 


HALL'S   GRAVE 

May  1st. — We  arrived  at  Hall's  Grave  on  a  beautiful  and 
sunny  spring  day  and  camped  on  the  ice-foot.  We  had  for  a 
long  time  been  anxious  to  see  this  place  of  which  we  had  read 
so  much,  and  where  a  large  Polar  expedition  had  fought 
through  the  dark  period  of  the  years  1871-72. 

As  soon  as  the  dogs  were  tethered  at  a  sufficient  distance 
from  the  sledges  we  ran  up  the  steep  clay  bank  which  led  to  a 
plateau. 

The  lines  of  the  landscape  were  beautiful.  A  plain-like 
sweep  of  several  kilometres  lay  like  a  carpet  in  front  of  the 
high  mountains  which  comprise  the  inner  region  of  Polaris 
Promontory.  The  plain  led  eastward  round  the  peninsula 
down  to  Newman  Bay  and,  being  covered  with  snow,  appeared 
to  provide  easy  driving. 
74 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

But  how  barren  and  desolate  was  all  the  country  one  could 
survey  from  this  point !  In  no  place  could  one  find  the 
slightest  sign  of  vegetation ;  everything  was  sand  and  pebbles, 
monotonous  and  bleak.  We  had  been  hoping  for  a  hunt 
before  we  parted  with  the  last  two  pack-sledges,  but  this  hope 
seemed  to  be  sheer  vanity. 

A  short  distance  from  the  clay  bank  we  found  Hall's  Grave, 
easily  distinguished  at  a  distance  by  the  copper  plate  between 
two  wooden  pillars  which  Nares'  Expedition  had  erected  in 
front  of  it,  this  great  Polar  expedition  which  visited  the  same 
regions  four  years  after  Hall's  death.  The  inscription  on  the 
plate  is  as  follows  : 

SACRED    TO    THE    MEMORY    OP 

CAPTAIN    C.   F.    HALL, 

OF  THE  U.S.  SHIP  "  POLARIS," 
WHO     SACRIFICED     HIS     LIFE     IN 
THE    ADVANCEMENT    OP    SCIENCE 

ON    NOVBR.    8TH,    1871. 

THIS  TABLET  HAS  BEEN  ERECTED 

BY    THE    BRITISH    POLAR    EXPEDITION 

OF    1875, 

WHO  FOLLOWING  IN  HIS  FOOTSTEPS 

HAVE    PROFITED    BY    HIS 

EXPERIENCE. 

A  bear  had  paid  a  visit  to  the  grave  a  short  time  previously 
and  tried  to  destroy  the  monument ;  some  of  the  wood  was 
splintered,  but  the  stout  pillars  which  supported  the  plate  had 
resisted  the  attack.  The  marks  of  the  animal's  teeth  were 
plain. 

A  short  distance  away  we  found  two  more  graves.  The 
inscription  on  one  of  them  had  been  made  on  a  wooden  plate 
and  was  now  illegible ;  but  on  the  other  it  is  scratched  on  to  a 
flat  limestone,  which,  however,  has  been  broken  by  a  bear. 
One  can  merely  decipher  the  word  Discovery,  but  this  is  suffi- 
cient to  show  that  it  is  one  of  Beaumont's  men  who  sleeps  his 
last  sleep  here. 

75 


GREENLAND   BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

Our  minds  were  impressed  by  the  atmosphere  of  this  little 
Arctic  cemetery ;  for  the  men  whose  earthly  remains  rest  in 
this  place  lost  their  lives  in  an  attempt  to  reach  the  places  which 
are  now  our  goal. 

Some  distance  from  the  grave  we  found  remainders  of  a 
small  wooden  hut  which  had  probably  served  as  a  scientific 
station  on  land  ;  also  some  wood,  a  couple  of  zoological  scrapers, 
and  a  large  rusty  stove — a  bizarre-looking  piece  of  wreckage  on 
this  coast.  By  the  side  of  this  stove  we  found  some  huge, 
unwieldy  cooking  utensils,  pots  and  kettles  which,  weighing 
from  5  to  10  kilograms  each  and  being  of  iron,  must  have 
formed  rather  unpleasant  loads  for  a  dog-sledge. 

Our  Eskimos,  whose  senses  are  always  doubly  keen  during 
an  examination  of  old,  previously  inhabited  camps,  found 
under  a  stone  mound  two  large  tins  of  coffee  which  proved 
excellent.  A  mouthful  of  port  wine  in  a  bottle  had  also  pre- 
served its  bouquet  in  spite  of  fifty  years  of  frosty  nights  near 
the  Pole.  It  was,  of  course,  drunk  in  a  mood  of  devotion, 
although  each  man's  share  was  no  larger  than  just  to  wet  the 
tip  of  the  tongue. 

We  further  discovered  some  lead  and  some  large  pellets 
suitable  for  the  hunting  of  hares,  which  our  pack-sledges  appro- 
priated with  delight. 

We  had,  however,  to  turn  our  thoughts  towards  hunting, 
and  as  soon  as  the  neighbourhood  had  been  examined  we  set 
out  in  two  parties,  one  making  with  sledges  and  dogs  in  the 
direction  across  the  plain  towards  Newman  Bay  ;  here  we  hoped 
to  meet  musk-ox,  for  Hall's  Expedition  had  shot  no  less  than 
twenty-six  animals  in  this  vicinity.  A  find  amongst  the  ruins 
of  the  houses  on  the  bank,  furthermore,  encouraged  us ;  for  in 
a  hollow  in  the  ground  which  had  been  dug  out  for  a  sleeping- 
place,  we  found  three  musk-ox  skins  which  did  not  appear  to 
be  very  old.  Sipsu's  opinion  was  that  they  were  put  there 
about  1900  during  one  of  Peary's  stays  at  Fort  Conger.  By 
way  of  a  broad  valley  which  stretched  itself  inward  through  the 
Polaris  Peninsula  itself,  the  second  party  went  to  hunt  hares. 

76 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

WE   TAKE   LEAVE   OF  OUR   LAST   PACK-SLEDGES 

There  was  a  feeling  of  summer  in  the  air  when  we  paid  our 
visit  to  Hall's  Grave,  for  quiet,  mild  weather  and  warm  sun 
greeted  us  pleasantly  after  the  three  days  of  storm  by  Peter- 
mann  Fjord. 

The  sun,  which  shone  night  and  day,  was  most  agreeable  in 
the  cool  night  with  its  softer  light.  As  we  were  not  troubled 
by  the  cold  we  could  give  ourselves  whole-heartedly  to  the  busi- 
ness consequent  on  this  being  our  last  day  of  companionship 
with  Sipsu  and  Inukitsoq.  They  had  to  leave  us  here  and 
hunt  their  way  homeward  via  Grant  Land,  so  for  the  last  time 
we  were  able  to  send  a  greeting  home,  with  a  message  as  to 
how  we  had  fared  hitherto. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  Sipsu  was  not  new  to  this 
territory.  He  was  an  experienced  traveller  who  had  often  fol- 
lowed Peary  on  his  Polar  Expeditions  and  knew  Grant  Land 
well ;  as  a  hunter  he  made  certain  and  safe  dispositions — a  calm 
man  when  luck  turned  against  him  and  intrepid  in  a  dangerous 
situation.  He  was  helpful,  always  good-tempered,  being 
merely  enlivened  by  the  risk  attendant  on  a  long  journey  where 
success  in  hunting  constitutes  the  thin  thread  by  which  life 
hangs. 

His  companion  Inukitsoq  had  really  only  accompanied  us 
because  he  was  Ajako's  brother.  He  was  a  good-natured 
fellow,  in  no  way  remarkable,  but  in  the  company  of  Sipsu  he 
could  always  be  used  with  advantage  for  driving  those  loads 
which  a  pack-sledge  had  to  carry. 

These  two  men  were  to  take  with  them  southward  the 
geological  collections  we  had  gathered  from  Cape  Constitution 
to  Polaris  Promontory.  As  we  could  not  spare  them  any  pro- 
visions, they  were  to  take  the  road  across  Fort  Conger, 
Greely's  famous  winter  quarters,  where  musk-ox  was  always  to 
be  found. 

We  ourselves  had  reckoned  on  the  possibility  of  having  to 
cut  across  Hall  Basin  in  order  to  get  our  provisions  in  Grant 
Land  before   we   lay   a   course   north   to   the   unknown    and 

77 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

doubtful  hunting-grounds.     But  as  for  the  time  being  we  had 
sufficient  dog  food,  this  was  not  now  necessary. 

We  did  not  expect  to  find  the  same  good  ice  as  that  on 
which  we  had  driven  along  the  coast  in  Hall  Basin,  where  the 
great  land  between  Robeson  Channel  and  Sherard  Osborne 
Fjord  acts  as  a  buffer  against  the  enormous  pressure  of  the 
Polar  Sea.  Not  a  single  ice-ridge  was  found  on  the  ice-foot, 
which  in  certain  places  was  quite  broad  and  easy  to  drive  on, 
though  in  other  places  it  was  too  narrow  for  the  passage  of 
sledges. 

Towards  evening  the  different  hunting  parties  returned ; 
Inukitsoq  and  Hendrik  had  been  almost  to  Newman  Bay,  but 
had  seen  nothing  alive — they  had  not  even  come  across  an  old 
track. 

Ajako  and  Bosun  had  been  inland  on  the  Peninsula  and 
had  killed  two  hares. 

For  the  last  time  we  made  our  camp  with  three  tents  and 
feasted  modestly  on  the  hares.  The  fine  weather  continued 
so  that  we  rarely  stayed  in  the  tents ;  it  was  far  better  to  be 
outside. 

We  paid  a  visit  to  two  beacons  in  the  mountains  near 
by,  but  could  not  find  any  records.  By  one  of  them,  however, 
we  found  a  big  flat  stone  with  the  inscription  : 

A.  A.  ODELL.     1872.     R.  W.  C. 

Odell  was  one  of  the  engineers  of  the  Polaris. 

The  neighbourhood  was  beautiful,  though  its  history  turned 
our  mood  to  one  of  seriousness.  For  we  were  camping  near  a 
cemetery,  and  the  men  whom  fate  had  broken  here  were  young 
and  capable  ;  but  they  had  met  difficulty  and  toil  stronger  than 
their  own  strong  constitutions. 

Opposite  to  us  the  Discovery  wintered  during  1875-76, 
and  the  Alert  farther  northward  the  same  year.  Both  ships 
had  sacrificed  brave  and  intrepid  members  of  their  crew  for  the 
exploration  of  this  land.  Finally,  the  Greely  Expedition  had 
wintered  in  Lady  Franklin  Bay — an  expedition  which  gave 
78 


WASHINGTON  LAND  TO  HALL  LAND 

rise  to  the  greatest  tragedy  which  has  ever  been  played  in  these 
regions. 

The  ground  on  which  we  stand  is  dearly  paid  for;  its 
exploration  has  cost  the  life  of  many  a  brave  young  man  of 
iron  will.  But  for  each  one  who  fell  there  were  others  who 
offered  to  take  his  place ;  thus  our  knowledge  of  the  northern- 
most regions  of  the  earth  moves  farther  and  farther  North. 

North !     North ! 

From  our  tent-camp  in  towards  Cape  Tyson  the  land 
stretches  itself  in  soft,  even  lines.  This  landscape,  which  is 
merely  a  desert  of  stone  and  sand,  has  the  contours  of  a  gentle 
sea  swell. 

At  Cape  Tyson  the  panorama  changes  in  character.  Wild 
mountains  lie  inward  toward  the  inland-ice  by  the  bight  of 
Petermann  Fjord,  darkly  edging  its  blue,  glistening  ice. 
Against  this  background  big  rolling  clouds  drive  out  from  the 
fjord  where  the  air  never  seems  to  be  at  peace ;  and  while  we 
are  lying  far  outside  the  mouth  of  the  fjord  in  golden  spring, 
the  colours  of  the  storm  above  the  cliffs  change  in  threatening 
hues. 

Much  more  fertile  looks  Grant  Land,  this  no  less  historic 
place,  separated  from  us  merely  by  the  narrow  Robeson 
Channel.  Here,  again,  the  mountains  are  grandly  and  phan- 
tastically  formed,  whilst  the  even  land  sweeps  away  in  all 
directions. 

Westward,  through  broad  doughs,  we  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  valleys  where  hundreds  of  musk-ox  graze  on  the  banks  of 
broad  rivers,  and  where  thousands  of  hares  tumble  like  a  ravine 
of  snow  down  to  the  plains,  curious  and  over-eaten,  white, 
woolly  hordes,  often  of  such  enormous  size  that  it  seems  as  if 
the  earth  itself  were  alive. 

And  all  this  huge,  white  landscape  somehow  seems  to 
gather  round  the  tall  Ballot  Island,  which  in  the  mouth  of  Lady 
Franklin  Bay  lifts  its  head  like  a  sky-scraping  monument  over 
man's  fight  for  the  North  Pole.  A  memorial  here  by  the  very 
threshold  where  the  word  is  always  : 

North,  North,  farther  North  ! 

79 


CHAPTER  IV 
CAPE  SUMNER  TO  DRAGON  POINT 

CAPE   SUMNER  TO   DRAGON   POINT 

"M  jW  AY  2nd. — We  started  at  ten  o'clock.  We  expected 
▼  I  bad  driving,  and  we  got  it.  According  to  its  position, 
the  Polaris  Peninsula  lies  like  a  wedge  in  the  midst  of 
a  strong  drift  of  ice-floes  which,  under  the  pressure  of  all  Lin- 
coln Sea,  break  their  way  past  the  large  capes  to  be  ground  in 
through  the  narrow  Robeson  Channel.  By  midnight  we  had 
nearly  reached  Cape  Sumner  and  made  camp  utterly  worn  out. 
The  dogs  also  were  worn  out  by  the  pressure-ice,  and  as  soon 
as  the  signal  to  stop  was  given  they  laid  down  almost  on  top 
of  each  other,  never  stirring  all  through  the  night  from  the 
spot  where  they  had  flopped. 

The  quality  of  the  ice  showed  that  there  had  been  open 
water  along  the  coast  until  late  in  the  autumn.  From  Hall's 
Grave  to  Cape  Lupton  we  therefore  had  excellent  going,  but 
here  the  character  of  the  ice  changed,  and,  as  it  was  not  always 
possible  for  us  to  follow  the  belt  of  the  tidal  water,  we  often 
met  pressure-ridges  which  towered  up  in  front  of  us  to  a  height 
of  10  to  15  metres.  It  was  quite  impossible  to  drive  across 
these  huge  blocks,  which  lay  piled  together  as  if  thrown  there 
by  a  giant's  hand.  For  hours  we  had  to  stop  in  order  to  make 
a  road  for  the  sledges  with  our  ice-picks. 

In  some  places  the  ice  was  pressed  up  towards  land,  lying 
like  an  exquisite  diadem  round  the  ice-foot,  gleaming  in  beau- 
tiful colours  when  the  rays  of  the  sun  caught  the  many  broken 
crystals. 

While  the  country  south-east  of  Hall's  Grave  is  low  with 
occasional  rounded  hills,  the  north  coast  stands  like  a  steep 
wall  of  cliff's  with  a  beautiful  design  in  brown  and  grey  on  its 
80 


CAPE  SUMNER  TO  DRAGON  POINT 

enormous  flanks.  A  snow-shower  had  just  swept  the  awl- 
pointed  peaks  standing  in  white  and  brilliant  contrast  to  the 
dark  bands  lower  down. 

There  was  a  storm  from  south-east,  and  the  gusts  of  wind 
swept  down  from  the  mountains  with  such  force  that  it  was 
impossible  to  stand  upright  under  their  attacks.  We  pitched 
the  tents  with  great  difficulty,  and  as  soon  as  we  had  strength- 
ened ourselves  with  some  food,  little  Hendrik  and  I  walked 
along  the  ice-foot  to  Newman  Bay  to  reconnoitre.  We  crawled 
up  on  the  ice-foot  and  crept  slowly  forward  against  the  storm. 
What  we  saw  was  not  very  encouraging ;  on  the  morrow  we 
should  once  more  have  to  hew  our  way  towards  the  bay  where 
the  ice  seemed  more  even.  We  climbed  the  mountains  to  get 
a  view  of  the  places  where  travelling  might  be  easiest ;  then  we 
returned  to  our  comrades.  On  one  crossing  of  the  mountain 
we  were  overwhelmed  by  weariness  and  the  pain  of  our  wind- 
lashed  faces,  so  we  sought  shelter  behind  a  hummock  of  ice. 

Whilst  we  tried  in  vain  to  doze,  our  thoughts  reverted  again 
and  again  to  Markham's  journey  across  this  very  Polar-ice, 
through  the  frozen  spray  of  which  we  were  now  about  to  force 
our  way. 

I  have  mentioned  before  in  how  slight  a  degree  we  were 
impressed  by  the  natural  phenomena  which  so  often  had  ren- 
dered our  predecessors  speechless.  Rut  here,  where  for  the 
first  time  in  my  life  I  looked  across  the  mighty  ocean  of  the 
Pole,  I  had  no  words  to  express  the  feeling  with  which  this 
living  though  ice-bound  sea  overwhelmed  me.  The  infinitely 
distant  horizon,  where  on  all  sides  one  sees  only  endless  white 
ice-steppes,  lying  there  without  the  evenness  of  the  plain  and 
full  of  unrest,  is  like  an  Epos  of  nature  which  renders  one 
dumb. 

And  whilst  the  wind  raged  round  us  and  the  steep  moun- 
tains of  Cape  Sumner  stood  threatening  above  our  heads,  the 
surroundings  forced  me  to  go  through  again  in  imagination  all 
the  sufferings  which  the  stubborn  Englishmen  from  Nares' 
Expedition  had  undergone. 
F  81 


GREENLAND    BY   THE    POLAR   SEA 

Right  opposite  to  me  was  the  north-east  coast  of  Grant 
Land  and,  as  a  blue  line  in  the  horizon,  the  faint  contours  of 
Floeberg  Beach,  the  Alert's  winter  harbour. 

Nares'  Expedition  of  1875-76  was  made  at  the  expense  of 
the  British  State  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  was 
equipped  with  everything  which  at  that  time  was  considered 
necessary  for  Polar  exploration.  Expense  had  on  no  point 
been  considered. 

The  expedition  left  Portsmouth  on  the  29th  of  May  and 
arrived  at  Disko  with  three  imposing  ships ;  from  this  harbour 
one  of  the  ships,  the  Valorous,  was  returned,  so  that  Nares 
had  now  command  of  two  big,  strong  ships,  the  Alert  and  the 
Discovery.  The  plan  was  that  one  of  the  ships  should  go  no 
further  than  N.  Lat.  82°,  where  it  was  to  take  up  its  winter 
quarters.  The  other  ship  was  to  push  on  as  far  north  as 
possible. 

The  goal  of  the  expedition  was  the  North  Pole,  and,  as 
soon  as  it  had  passed  Cape  York,  it  worked  its  way  system- 
atically northward,  leaving  in  all  suitable  places  depots  to 
be  used  in  case  of  shipwreck.  Simultaneously  beacons  were 
built  where  information  was  laid  down  for  eventual  search  expe- 
ditions. It  was  one  of  these  depots  which  we  found  at  Cape 
Morton,  as  previously  described. 

According  to  plan,  the  Discovery  took  up  its  winter  quar- 
ters in  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  whilst  the  Alert  made  its  way  up 
to  the  north  point  of  Grant  Land,  which  it  reached  on  the 
25th  of  August.     The  winter  was  spent  on  Floeberg  Beach. 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  1876,  all  the  long  sledge  jour- 
neys started,  which,  due  east,  seaward  due  north,  and  due 
west,  were  to  accomplish  the  task  of  the  expedition.  I  will 
mention  here  only  Markham's  voyage. 

Markham's  task  was  to  push  northward  as  far  as  possible, 
preferably  to  the  North  Pole  itself.  He  started  with  a  train 
of  nineteen  men  with  sledges  whereon  provisions  and  baggage 
were  distributed  in  such  a  way  that  each  man  would  have  a 
load  of  230  pounds.  Besides  the  sledges  they  also  brought  two 
boats  much  too  heavy  and  unwieldy  for  such  a  long  sledge 
82 


CAPE  SUMNER  TO  DRAGON  POINT 

journey.  Very  soon  after  the  expedition  left  land,  they  had 
to  leave  the  first  boat  behind. 

Daily  these  men  fought  a  terrible  fight  against  both  the 
cold  and  the  natural  obstacles  in  their  path,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  they  began  to  suffer  from  frost-bite.  They  faced  this 
misfortune  bravely.  But  when  the  dreaded  scurvy*  made  its 
appearance,  the  expedition  was  on  the  point  of  breaking  down 
altogether.  On  the  19th  of  April  it  became  evident  that  three 
of  the  men  had  contracted  this  dreaded  and  terrible  complaint. 
On  the  24th,  N.  Eat.  83°  was  passed,  and  then  no  less  than 
five  men  were  ill  and  unable  to  do  any  work.  On  the  7th  of 
May  the  position  was  already  such  that  three  men  had  to  ride 
with  the  baggage,  while  two  of  the  patients  were  yet  able  to 
manage  for  themselves,  although  they  were  hardly  able  to 
walk.  On  the  10th  of  May  it  was  obvious  to  Markham  that  it 
was  hopeless  to  continue,  and,  while  the  patients  were  given 
two  days'  rest,  he  himself  and  the  strongest  of  the  men  set  out 
on  an  excursion  to  N.  Lat.  83°  20',  the  farthest  north  ever 
reached — a  record  which  was  destined  to  remain  unbeaten  for 
many  years. 

On  the  commencement  of  the  return  journey  five  men  had 
to  drive,  whilst  a  further  five  were  only  enabled  to  keep  up 
with  their  comrades  because  the  drivers  must  cover  the  dis- 
tance three  times  in  succession  to  bring  up  all  the  baggage. 

*  J.  Lindhardt,  M.D.,  Professor  at  the  University  of  Copenhagen, 
and  member  of  the  Danish  Expedition  of  1906-08,  has  kindly  supplied 
me  with  the  following  information:  "Scurvy  (scorbut)  is  an  illness  due 
to  an  improper  dietary,  the  cause  of  which  is  now  attributed  to  the  lack 
of  vitamines  in  the  food.  These  vitamines  are  to  be  found  in  fresh  meat, 
and,  more  especially,  in  vegetables,  but  they  are  destroyed  by  unsuitable 
preservation.  Thus  they  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  salt  meat  which 
previously  constituted  the  chief  food  of  Arctic  expeditions.  The  illness 
manifests  itself  by  tiredness  and  weakness,  often  accompanied  by  pains 
similar  to  rheumatism,  haemorrhage  under  the  skin,  sores  on  the  legs, 
often  also  on  internal  organs,  and  a  peculiar  affection  of  the  mouth  with 
swollen,  tender,  and  delicate  gums  which  give  rise  to  haemorrhage  and 
wounds  and,  occasionally,  a  loosening  of  the  teeth.  The  treatment  of 
the  illness  is  hygienic-dietetic  (fresh  vegetables).  In  severe  cases  death 
follows  general  exhaustion  or  is  caused  by  complications,  especially 
affections  of  the  lungs." 

83 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

When  they  approached  land,  still  another  three  men  fell  ill, 
and  as  there  were  now  only  two  officers  and  two  men  left,  they 
decided  at  length  to  leave  the  second  boat,  which  they  had 
dragged  along  fearing  that  they  might  meet  open  water. 

On  the  5th  of  June  they  reached  land,  and  after  two  days 
of  rest  Lieutenant  Parr  had  sufficient  strength  to  cover  the 
distance  to  the  ship  on  foot.  A  relief  party  was  promptly  sent 
out,  and  all  the  men  were  brought  on  board,  but  several  of 
them  were  already  so  ill  that,  in  spite  of  all  efforts,  they  died 
after  having  reached  harbour.  The  men  who  left  the  ship 
were  fine  fellows — they  had  been  picked  from  a  large  crew  ;  but 
of  what  avail  is  youth  and  strength  when  the  constitution  is 
undermined  by  scurvy? 

This  is  briefly  the  tale  of  the  first  journey  across  the  Polar- 
ice,  which  now  lies  before  us.  The  story  the  ice  axes  hewed 
out  here  was  just  as  gloomy  as,  in  consequence  of  its  surround- 
ings, it  must  necessarily  be.  It  was  a  fine  and  noble  record, 
and  Markham  has  for  all  eternity  carved  his  name  on  the  scroll 
of  the  foremost  in  Polar  exploration  ;  but  hard  was  the  journey 
and  dearly  were  the  results  paid  for,  for  this  great  cold  Polar 
Sea  claims  a  sacrifice  from  every  man  who  tries  to  unveil  its 
secrets. 

Hendrik  and  I  got  up  stiff  with  cold,  but  were  blown  home- 
ward and  soon  got  warm.  Often  we  were  flung  along  the  ice 
against  pressure-ridges  which  did  not  receive  us  kindly ;  and 
it  was  with  genuine  joy  that  we  arrived,  bruised  and  stiff,  at 
the  camp  of  our  sleeping  comrades  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

This  was  a  cold  and  inhospitable  coast ! 

May  3rd. — We  had  pitched  our  tents  between  the  big 
pressure-ridges  close  to  the  ice-foot,  attempting  to  find  shelter 
from  the  storm. 

The  landscape  would  have  been  gloomy  had  it  not  been  for 
the  warm  sun,  which  gave  life  and  colour  to  everything  :  even 
the  precipitous  mountains  behind  us  changed  in  warm  tinges. 

We  hoped  that  we  should  wake  up  in  quieter  weather,  as 
84 


CAPE  SUMNER  TO  DRAGON  POINT 

the  gusts  of  wind  made  progress  so  difficult  on  the  shiny  ice 
between  the  big  ridges.  During  a  storm  one  is  unmercifully 
flung  down,  and  the  dogs,  which  had  worn  down  their  claws 
during  the  last  days  of  fighting  for  a  foothold  on  the  shiny  ice, 
were  swept  together  in  bunches  which  were  flung  against  the 
sledges  ;  here  they  lay  until  a  lull  in  the  heavy  squalls  gave  them 
a  chance  to  push  ahead  for  another  short  distance. 

We  had  the  same  weather  to-day  as  yesterday,  and  we 
pressed  on  to  get  out  of  this  awkward  neighbourhood ;  in  the 
course  of  the  day  we  reached  the  strongly  folded  ground  of 
Cape  Sumner,  from  which  point  driving  was  easier,  resting  us 
whilst  we  passed  Newman  Bay. 

I  discovered  no  young  ice  in  the  bay ;  everywhere  was 
several  years  old  Polar-ice,  hilly  and  rough,  slippery  and  bare 
of  snow,  but  nevertheless  fairly  easy  to  cross,  as  it  was  not 
necessary  for  us  to  use  our  axes.  In  the  afternoon  we  camped 
near  Cape  Brevoort,  a  high  limestone  mountain  standing  as  a 
counterpart  to  Cape  Sumner. 

These  monumental  coast  mountains  are  worthy  memorials 
of  the  two  American  senators  whom  Hall  wished  to  honour  by 
this  christening.  From  their  summits  one  has  a  view  not 
merely  over  the  Polar  Sea  and  the  north  coast  of  Grant  Land, 
but  also  far  inland  across  the  country  behind  Newman  Bay, 
where  the  land  at  an  even  gradient  trends  inward,  ending  in  a 
great  tableland  near  the  inland-ice. 

The  success  with  which  Hall's  people  met  on  their  various 
hunting  expeditions  in  this  neighbourhood  tempted  us  to  try 
our  fortune  once  more.  The  musk-oxen  had  had  a  close  season 
of  many  years'  duration,  ever  since  the  days  of  1871,  so  two 
men  were  now  sent  out.  Ajako  and  Bosun  walked  for  ten 
hours  across  the  stony  land,  and  then  returned  tired  and  foot- 
sore to  the  tent,  late  in  the  evening,  without  having  seen  any 
sign  of  game. 

May  4th. — One  day  succeeds  the  other  in  great  monotony 
during  this  period ;  all  our  attempts  to  find  game  for  ourselves 
and  the  dogs  are  unsuccessful,  but  we  have  yet  sufficient  stores 
to  continue  the  journey  on  full  rations. 

85 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

The  fight  for  progress  through  the  Polar  pack-ice  was 
monotonous  and  strenuous.  Hour  after  hour  was  spent  in  the 
same  way.  Sometimes  the  axe  had  to  break  the  ice-blocks ; 
sometimes  we  had  to  lift  the  sledges  when  they  toppled  over ; 
and  the  whole  time  we  had  to  force  the  dogs  forward  with 
iron-fisted  discipline,  through  sharp  and  slippery  blocks  of  ice 
where  it  was  difficult  to  find  so  good  a  foothold  that  the  sledges 
could  be  pressed  through  the  difficult  passages  without  delays. 

At  all  the  great  capes  the  same  pressure-ice  was  piled 
across  the  ice-foot  as  an  obstructing  wall,  through  which  we 
could  not  hope  to  pass.  We  therefore  had  to  work  our  way 
either  along  the  belt  of  tidal  water  on  the  shiny  ice,  or,  where 
this  was  impossible,  along  those  rare  places  where  a  belated 
lane  from  January  and  February  had  stretched  an  arm  of 
young  ice  towards  land.  But  we  tried  as  far  as  possible  not  to 
get  too  far  out  to  sea,  as  these  new  lanes  often  end  in  a  cul- 
de-sac  and  force  one  into  a  wilderness  of  pressure-ice. 

During  the  forenoon  we  passed  Gap  Valley,  where  Beau- 
mont and  his  men  pulled  their  heavy  sledges  up  across  land 
when  they  found  the  route  forward  blocked  by  open  water 
near  Cape  Brevoort.  As  the  name  implies,  the  valley  here 
forms  a  broad  gap  betweeD  two  steep  mountains,  a  stony  valley 
full  of  doughs  which  goes  in  towards  the  great  lowland  near 
Newman  Bay.  We  who  have  our  dogs  to  help  us  bow  down 
in  deep  respect  to  those  sick  and  exhausted  men  who  them- 
selves had  to  pull  their  heavy,  iron-mounted  sledges  up  across 
the  trackless  terrain  with  its  many  large  stones  which  lay  bare 
of  snow.  Maybe  those  old  pioneers  were  unpractical  as 
regards  their  equipment,  but  what  stubbornness  and  pride 
they  must  have  possessed,  these  enduring  and  herculean 
mariners  who  were  the  first  beasts  of  burden  for  the  Polar 
travellers ! 

Near  Repulse  Harbour  we  succeeded  in  climbing  on  to 
an  ice-foot  along  which  driving  was  possible,  although  the 
gigantic  Sikussaq  ridges  in  some  places  towered  up  and  formed 
banks  from  10  to  30  metres  high.  These  phenomena  testify 
to  the  fights  which  every  year  are  fought  out  between  the 
86 


z 
b 


A    l'AUE    OF    1'EAKY  S    REl'OKT    FOUND    IN    THE    CA1HN 


CAPE  SUMNER  TO  DRAGON  POINT 

creaking,  current-harassed  ice-ocean  and  the  mountain-sides, 
the  outposts  of  the  lands.  Inukitsoq,  who  during  one  of 
Peary's  Polar  Expeditions  wintered  on  the  north  coast  of 
Grant  Land,  remembers  that  he  has  seen  rifts  and  holes  with 
open  water  far  into  the  winter.  It  appears  that  the  ice  here 
between  Greenland  and  Grant  Land  is  seldom  firm  and 
dependable  until  February  or  March. 

Near  Repulse  Harbour  we  passed  a  beacon  as  tall  as  a  man, 
where,  in  an  empty  brandy-bottle,  we  found  the  following 
record  from  Peary  : 

"June  8th,  1900. 

"Am  passing  here  on  my  way  to  Ft.  Conger.  I  left 
Etah  March  4th  and  Conger  April  15th.  Reached  Lock- 
wood's  farthest  May  8th  ;  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Green- 
land archipelago  on  May  13th  ;  a  point  on  the  sea-ice  north  of 
that  N.  Lat.  83°  50'  May  16th  ;  and  a  point  down  the  east 
coast  about  North  Lat.  83°  May  21st.  There  followed  over 
a  week  of  fog,  wind  and  snow,  this  made  the  travelling  very 
heavy  and  the  return  slow.  This  is  my  16th  march  from  my 
farthest  and  9th  from  Lockwood's  farthest.  Yesterday  passed 
Black  Horn  Cliffs  with  much  difficulty  over  loose  ice.  There 
is  open  water  now  off  this  point  and  a  lane  of  open  water  this 
side  of  C.  Brevoort  extending  clear  across  the  channel.  Have 
with  me  my  man  Matthew  Henson,  one  Eskimo,  16  dogs  and 
2  sledges,  all  in  fair  condition. 

"  This  sledge  journey  is  part  of  a  program  of  Arctic  work 
Undertaken  by  me  under  the  auspices  of  and  with  funds  fur- 
nished by  the  Peary  Arctic  Club  of  New  York  City. 

"R.  E.  Peary, 

"U.S.N." 

We  were  now  free  of  the  pressure-ice  and  enjoyed  the  even 
going  inside  the  fjord-ice.  But  unfortunately  the  sledges  ran 
heavily  on  the  snow,  which,  here  mixed  up  with  little  grains 
of  sand  and  gravel,  hampered  our  iron  runners.  It  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  we  made  the  dogs  keep  up  a  slow  trot,  but 
this,  nevertheless,  represented  a  good  push  forward.     On  this 

87 


GREENLAND    BY    THE    POLAR    SEA 

stretch  of  the  coast  Wulff  found  a  living  saxifrage  with  fully- 
developed  flowers  on  stems  an  inch  high ;  in  full  bloom  it  had 
been  suddenly  surprised  by  the  winter,  which  it  had  allowed 
to  pass  over  its  head  as  if  it  did  not  exist  at  all,  and  it  quite 
calmly  continued  its  life  now  when  spring  and  sunshine  once 
more  melted  the  ice.  All  its  tissues  were  full  of  life  although 
the  temperature  of  the  air  was  minus  11°  (Cent.),  and  there 
had  as  yet  been  no  thaw  during  the  year. 

Near  Black  Horn  Cliffs  we  made  our  camp  after  twelve 
hours  of  driving,  as  neither  the  dogs  nor  we  ourselves  could 
stand  any  more.  After  a  slight  meal  and  a  refreshing  cup  of 
tea  I  climbed  the  mountains  with  the  Eskimos  so  as  to  ascer- 
tain what  conditions  for  travelling  the  next  day  would  offer. 
The  ice  was  similar  to  that  of  the  preceding  days,  and  in  spite 
of  all  difficulties  this  was  a  pleasant  surprise ;  for  the  ice  of 
Black  Horn  Cliffs,  which  run  steeply  into  the  sea  without  a 
trace  of  ice-foot,  is  not  dependable,  open  water  being  often 
found. 

Inland  we  looked  across  even  land  with  knolls  which  almost 
entirely  consist  of  pebbles,  clay,  and  sand.  In  spite  of  the 
absence  of  vegetation,  the  view,  with  its  soft,  calm  lines,  is  a 
kindly  one.  Behind  it  all  the  mighty  Mount  Punch  was 
enthroned,  broad  and  solid  with  a  skull-cap  of  white  snow. 

The  land  was  bare  of  snow  and  in  vain  our  two  good  field- 
glasses  ransacked  plains,  valleys,  and  doughs.  Not  a  hare, 
let  alone  a  musk-ox,  was  to  be  discovered  anywhere. 

From  the  wind-swept  look-out  of  our  mountain  we  could 
see  clear  across  to  the  country  round  Grant  Land,  looming 
far,  far  to  the  north  amidst  a  sea  of  ice  like  blue  banks  of  fog. 
Furthest  away  Inukitsoq  recognized  Cape  Sheridan,  the  winter 
harbour  of  Nares  in  1875-76,  and  later  on  Peary's  quarters 
during  no  less  than  two  Polar  expeditions. 

Looking  from  this  point  across  the  huge  plain  of  rugged 
Polar  pack-ice  with  very  occasional  narrow  lanes  of  new  ice, 
one  cannot  but  feel  the  greatest  admiration  for  the  old  English 
sailor  who  already  forty  years  ago  found  a  way  for  ships  so 
near  to  the  North  Pole. 
88 


CAPE  SUMNER  TO  DRAGON  POINT 

May  5th. — As  usual,  we  camped  on  the  ice  between  the 
highest  ice-banks  so  as  to  be  sheltered  from  the  sweeping  blast 
which  whirled  across  the  ice-foot  and  whipped  our  tents  with 
showers  of  snow  and  gravel.  An  inhospitable  country  to  wake 
up  in  when  the  day's  journey  must  begin  after  a  good  night  of 
rest  in  a  comfortable  sleeping-bag  !  Each  day  has  to  be  started 
with  a  little  reconnoitring.  One  or  two  men  go  seaward 
armed  with  ice-picks  in  order  to  rid  the  road~~oT~TrTe~  first 
obstacles.  It  is  always  a  good  thing  to  get  quickly  away  from 
a  camp,  for  nothing  is  more  demoralizing  than  looking  too 
long  at  the  place  where  last  one  slept. 

We  soon  found  that  by  going  seaward  we  quickly  came 
across  fairly  good  ice,  though  it  was  old  Sikussaq  with  slippery 
hilly  slopes  and  annoying  hollows.  But  this  old  ice  alternated 
with  good  driving,  and  thus  it  happened  to  our  great  surprise 
that  we  quickly  crossed  the  place  where  we  had  expected  the 
greatest  struggle.  Near  Cape  Stanton  we  onee  more  got  up 
on  the  ice-foot,  which  was  everywhere  bounded  on  its  outer 
side  by  ridges  of  from  5  to  20  metres  high.  We  were  now 
rid  of  the  pressure-ice,  but  the  clayey  snow  gave  the  dogs  hard 
work  in  pulling  the  sledges. 

During  the  previous  day's  journey  we  had  seen  tracks  of 
Polar  wolves,  a  very  large  male  and  its  mate,  which  a  few  days 
ago  had  travelled  in  the  very  direction  in  which  we  were  now 
struggling.  On  this  day  also  we  ran  across  the  same  tracks, 
and  the  dogs,  which  scented  the  strange  animals,  were  animated 
a  little  by  the  hope  of  a  possible  hunt.  Also  we  were  interested 
in  the  tracks,  for  where  wolves  exist  one  will,  as  a  ride,  find 
musk-ox,  and  we  were  all  longing  for  fresh  meat.  In  several 
places  on  land  we  found  excrements  of  musk-ox,  but  unfortu- 
nately they  were  all  very  old  and  covered  with  moss. 

So  far  the  day's  journey  differed  only  from  the  many  others 
of  laborious  and  weary  struggles  along  a  monotonous  and  barren 
coast,  in  that  we  passed  two  beautiful  bays.  There  was  Hands 
Bay,  with  two  peaceful  valleys  edged  by  high  mountains  which 
further  emphasize  the  idyllic  aspect ;  at  the  head  of  this  bay  the 
ice  was  even  and  appeared  to  have  been  melted  during  the 

89 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

summer.  Similarly  in  Frankfield  Bay,  which  with  a  narrow 
mouth  cuts  broadly  into  the  country.  The  background  of 
this  country  is  formed  by  Mount  Punch  with  its  genially- 
sounding  name,  lifting  its  snowy  cap  rakishly  towards  the 
clouds. 

The  wind  appears  to  be  the  only  guest  in  these  harsh  tracts 
where  even  the  snow  is  forbidden  to  lie  as  a  cover  for  the  sparse 
vegetation — the  charitable  gift  of  summer  to  the  insects,  the 
little  birds,  and  the  stray  hares  and  lemmings.  But  there  was 
sufficient  food  for  musk-ox,  for  wherever  small,  clough-like 
hollows  give  shelter  for  the  snow,  or  where  a  river  forces  its 
way  from  some  lake  towards  the  ocean,  there  is  plenty  of  grass 
and  willow. 

The  result  of  the  hunt  was  three  lean  ptarmigans.  One  of 
these  was  so  tame  that  Harrigan,  stealthily  creeping  towards  it, 
got  so  near  that  he  could  easily  take  it  with  his  hands.  The 
ptarmigans  were  boiled  in  our  porridge  and  imparted  to  it,  with 
their  keen  delicious  juices,  a  new  and  agreeable  flavour. 

Our  two  tents  were  pitched  under  a  steep  ice-bank,  screwed 
up  under  the  pressure  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  a  height  of 
30  metres  above  the  ice-foot.  This  bank  looked  phantastic  with 
its  many  knotted  ice-blocks  crawling  over  each  other,  and  pro- 
vided a  welcome  screen  from  the  wind.  The  place  is  called, 
quite  appropriately,  "Rest  Point."  The  day's  journey  had 
been  fifteen  hours  long,  and,  after  this  last  wandering  across 
the  mountains,  we  all  accepted  the  blissful  rest  which  bathes 
our  tired  limbs  as  a  rain-shower  a  thirsty  field. 

May  6th-7th. — It  was  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  before 
we  were  once  more  ready  to  start. 

Again  on  this  day  the  ice-foot  made  travelling  heavy.  It 
was  almost  impossible  for  the  sledges  to  get  along  because  of 
all  the  sand  and  gravel  blown  on  to  the  snow,  and  it  was  difficult 
to  make  the  dogs  go  ahead.  The  coast  was  desolate  and  cheer- 
less, monotonous  and  depressing.  The  ice-foot  on  which  we 
travelled  is  along  its  inner  edge  covered  by  rather  low  rounded 
heaps  of  gravel,  without  character  and  entirely  without  the 
90 


CAPE  SUMNER  TO  DRAGON  POINT 

variation  of  form  which  otherwise  breaks  the  monotony.  Every- 
thing about  us  bears  the  stamp  of  the  iron  climate  of  the 
country.  The  eternal  blast  has  whipped  the  sparse  vegetation 
flat  along  the  ground,  nothing  has  had  a  chance  to  grow  erect. 
All  life  here  bears  the  yoke  of  storm  and  frost. 

We  snailed  along  from  headland  to  headland,  and  every 
point  of  land  ahead  looked  like  the  one  we  had  just  passed.  The 
whole  coast  is  clipped  and  cropped,  blockaded  by  ice-ridges  and 
chilled  through  by  an  ocean  of  ice. 

We  made  occasional  halts  to  give  the  dogs  a  short  rest,  and, 
in  the  meantime,  we  ourselves  walked  into  the  sandy  desert, 
where  not  the  slightest  track  encouraged  us  to  persist.  The 
crushing  monotony  of  death  seems  to  be  the  only  ruler  in  this 
district. 

During  the  journey  I  suddenly  discovered  a  piece  of  wood 
placed  by  human  hands  in  a  conspicuous  place  near  a  large  stone 
mound.  Although  in  a  way  it  formed  a  link  with  other  men 
who  have  visited  this  coast,  owing  to  our  mood  our  thoughts 
involuntarily  turned  to  graves.  I  hurried  up  to  it  to  see 
whether  it  was  not  some  sad  memorial  or  other  connected  with 
Beaumont,  but  soon  discovered  that  this  place  had  once  been 
merely  a  depot  of  provisions,  perhaps  a  salvation  for  those  who, 
starving  and  exhausted,  managed  to  reach  it. 

The  coast  trends  sharply  and  straightly  due  north-east  and 
permits  no  view  ahead ;  little  headlands  continually  block  the 
horizon.  But  under  Cape  Bryan  the  coast  suddenly  turns 
southward  and  opens  at  once  the  view  to  the  north,  where  all 
the  lands  which  we  had  dreamed  about  for  months  rise  up  from 
the  ice-ocean  and  show  their  brilliant  contours  in  the  clear, 
sharp  air. 

It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  sun  had  not  yet 
reached  such  a  height  as  to  emit  a  flat  and  monotonous  light  : 
sharp  shadows  were  thrown  on  to  the  dark  mountain  walTs,  and 
a  fine,  tender  red  still  trembled  round  the  topmost  peaks, 
covered  in  ice  and  snow. 

It  suddenly  seemed  as  if  the  low,  dreary  coast  which  we 
had  followed  from  Rest  Point  sank  into  the  ocean  behind  us 

91 


GREENLAND    BY    THE    POLAR    SEA 

and  no  longer  existed.  We  could  now  see  far  ahead,  and  with 
the  wide  view  came  that  excitement  of  travel  which  always 
carries  one  across  dead  points ;  it  was  as  if  suddenly  we 
approached  our  fate  with  visors  raised,  in  a  manner  much  more 
dauntless  than  before. 

Quite  near  us  we  saw  St.  George  Fjord,  narrow  as  a  river 
of  ice  cutting  into  the  land,  encircled  by  high  mountains,  which, 
with  steep  fells  seaward,  run  right  in  to  the  inland-ice. 

Dragon  Point  juts  out  like  a  wedge  between  this  narrow 
fjord  and  the  broad,  far  more  impressive  Sherard  Osborne 
Fjord,  where  the  broad  lines,  with  the  quiet  country  behind 
Cape  May,  put  one  in  a  mood  quite  different  to  the  one  created 
by  the  wild  St.  George  Fjord.  There  is  a  breadth  here  and  a 
depth,  a  wild  monumental  grandeur  which  fascinates  one, 
especially  when  one  looks  upon  it  from  this  point  and  contrasts 
it  with  the  rest  of  the  landscape.  Far  seaward  one  gets  a  glimpse 
of  Beaumont  Island's  sharp  profile,  like  a  clenched  fist  in  the 
midst  of  eternal  snow.  Even  the  highest  mountains  here  do 
not  seem  to  be  covered  with  snow,  thus  forming  an  agreeable 
contrast  to  the  white  immensity  spreading  out  at  their  feet. 
Across  the  lowland  behind  Cape  May,  where  the  cone- 
shaped  Cape  Hooker  dominates  the  horizon,  we  discern  Cape 
Britannia's  gimlet-pointed  peaks  on  John  Murray  Island  near 
the  mouth  of  Nordenskjold  Fjord. 

The  sky  was  dazzlingly  clear,  the  air  deep  blue  and  fresh, 
and  it  was  as  if  the  wind  itself  had  other  songs  here  than  on  the 
dead  coasts  from  which  we  had  come.  On  the  uttermost 
horizon  of  the  iee-ocean  one  sees  occasional  mirages  lifting  the 
sun-bathed  pack-ice  up  towards  heaven,  giving  relief  to  the 
monotony  which  rests  over  the  frost-bound  ocean.  The  im- 
mensity, the  power  and  violence  which  Nature  breathes  here, 
where  we  have  halted  for  a  moment  so  as  to  take  possession  of 
all  these  new  things,  communicates  itself  to  our  will ;  and  with 
the  enthusiasm  only  known  by  men  who  have  dared  to  leave  the 
high  road  for  the  by-ways,  we  approach  the  land  which  holds 
our  future  fate. 

The  glorious  immensity  gives  us  new  power,  and  merrily 
92 


CAPE  SUMNEB  TO  DRAGON  POINT 

we  turn  the  dogs  down  across  the  ice-foot,  driving  to  Dragon 
Point  along  the  even  ice  of  St.  George  Fjord. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  land  on  the  outmost  point, 
and  for  the  first  time  for  a  long  period  we  stand  where  the  rays 
of  the  sun  are  allowed  to  warm  us  right  through.  Not  a  wind 
stirs,  and  a  tiny,  curious  bunting  circling  above  our  heads  gives 
us  a  welcome  to  our  first  spring  camp. 


CAPE    SUMNER  :     DRAGON    POINT. 


98 


CHAPTER  V 

SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD  TO 
NORDENSKJOLD  FJORD 


BEAUMONT  AND    HIS   MEN 

IN  the  month  of  May,  forty-two  years  ago,  in  the  very  neigh- 
bourhood through  which  we  are  now  travelling,  one  could 
have  seen  a  remarkable  trail  of  sick  people,  exhausted  and 
stumbling,  fighting  their  way  through  the  snow  for  the  purpose 
of  mapping  the  land,  and  later  on  in  order  to  save  life  and  results 
under  an  immensely  toilsome  wandering  southward.  It  was 
Beaumont  and  his  men  from  Nares'  Expedition. 

On  our  expedition  we  had  passed  many  historical  points,  but 
here  more  than  anywhere  else  did  we  feel  the  contact  with  those 
brave  Englishmen  whose  goal  was  identical  with  ours,  and  whose 
trail  we  had  hitherto  followed.  As  soon  as  we  arrived  we  dis- 
covered in  the  mountain  a  beacon,  which  we  visited,  and  here 
we  found  Beaumont's  report  of  the  25th  of  May,  1876,  deposited 
in  a  beautiful,  water-tight  copper  case.  Besides  the  report,  of 
which  I  here  give  a  facsimile,  we  also  found  an  original  map  of 
the  tracts  which  had  been  visited  and  charted  with  English 
thoroughness.  We  took  this  record  so  that  it  might  later  on 
come  into  the  hands  of  the  British  Admiralty  as  a  chapter  of 
Polar  history,  and  put  down  another  record  in  the  same  beacon, 
seizing  the  opportunity  to  express  our  admiration  for  our  brave 
predecessors. 

Lieutenant  Beaumont  set  out  from  the  Alert  on  the  20th  of 
April  with  a  band  of  twenty-one  men,  pulling  four  sledges  on 
which  the  loads  were  so  distributed  that  every  man  would  be 
pulling  218  pounds — a  rather  stiff  proposition. 
94 


MAKKIIAM    PLANTS    THE    DNION    JACK    FAR'IHEST    NORTH 


LIEUTENANT    L.    A.    BEAUMONT,    ROYAL    NAVY    GREENLAND 
SLEDGE    PARTY,    H.M.S.     DISCOfBRY,   18T8    IWO 


50" 


45° 


% 


\ 
*&&. 


<5j,   Capejtamsay  %_  Cape  yfohn   <? 


45 


SHBRARD    OSBORXE    F.toRD — DE    LONG    FJORD 


SIIERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

In  the  course  of  a  week  they  reached  Repulse  Harbour  and 
built  the  beacon,  which  we  passed  on  the  4th  of  May,  where 
Peary's  record  was  found.  In  the  same  place  a  rather  consider- 
able depot  was  laid  down  for  the  return  journey,  and  they  con- 
tinued their  push  forward  on  the  27th  of  April,  no  longer  on  the 
ocean-ice,  but  along  the  ice-foot  just  as  we  ourselves  had  done. 
Black  Horn  Cliffs  were  passed,  and  immediately  afterwards  a 
new  store  was  deposited  for  the  return  journeys.  Dr.  Cop- 
pinger  then  left  the  party,  as  after  the  deposition  of  the  stores 
the  assistance  of  him  and  his  men  was  no  longer  required.  On 
the  10th  of  May  the  discovery  was  made  that  one  of  the  men 
had  contracted  scurvy,  and  Lieutenant  Rawson  was  immediately 
sent  back  with  the  sick  man  in  an  attempt  to  reach  the  ship. 
The  others  continued  to  put  down  depots  to  secure  their  retreat ; 
thus  one  was  deposited  by  Cape  Bryan,  which  is  no  more  than 
one  day's  journey  from  the  previous  depot.  From  this  point 
they  went  via  Cape  Fulford  across  to  Dragon  Point,  where  we 
ourselves  at  present  are  camping. 

As  the  illness  spread  among  the  men  it  soon  became  obvious 
to  Beaumont  that  he  could  not  succeed  in  reaching  very  much 
further  north.  He  now  wished  merely  to  climb  a  high  moun- 
tain on  the  north  coast  of  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  so  as  to  take 
bearings  in  the  direction  of  the  land  which  must  be  found,  but 
which  so  far  had  remained  hidden.  For  this  purpose  he  chose  a 
large  cone-formed  mountain,  Mount  Hooker,  and  he  now  bent 
all  his  energy  towards  reaching  it.  But  the  snow  lay  deep  every- 
where, and  when  the  people  could  no  longer  bear  up,  Beaumont 
set  off  alone  to  see  what  sort  of  travelling  he  would  meet  with 
further  on.     Of  this  he  himself  writes  the  following  : 

•  The  coast  which  we  tried  to  reach  did  not  appear  to  be 
more  than  two  miles  away  from  us,  and  I  therefore  went  on  to 
examine  whether  it  would  not  be  easier  to  travel  by  land.  I 
covered  about  one  and  a  half  miles  in  three  hours,  and  then  gave 
it  up. 

"  My  strength  was  nearly  exhausted,  and  I  hailed  the  men 
and  told  them  to  have  their  lunch,  but  I  myself  would  rather 
forego  three  meals  than  walk  all  the  way  back." 

95 


GREENLAND    BY    THE    POLAR    SEA 

On  the  19th  of  May  Beaumont  writes  : 

"  No  one  will  ever  be  able  to  understand  what  hard  work  we 
had  during  these  days,  but  the  following  may  give  them  some 
idea  of  it  :  When  we  halted  for  lunch,  two  of  the  men  crept  on 
all  fours  for  200  yards,  rather  than  walk  through  this  terrible 
snow." 

On  the  22nd  of  May  they  were  forced  to  begin  the  return 
journey  without  having  reached  Mount  Hooker.  Subsequently 
a  report  was  left  on  the  small  Reef  Island,  and  also  the  one  on 
Dragon  Point  which  we  had  now  found.  We  decided  to  take 
only  the  record  from  Dragon  Point,  as  the  other  one,  which 
would  probably  be  similar  to  ours,  ought  to  stand  as  a  memorial 
of  English  endurance  here  in  the  very  country  where  the  work 
was  done.  During  the  last  days  of  May  everybody  with  the 
exception  of  Beaumont  and  Gray  was  ill ;  they  therefore  had  to 
leave  behind  various  things  which  were  not  considered  absolutely 
necessary,  as  the  point  was  reached  when  the  exhausted  men  had 
to  ride.  The  first  who  fell  was  a  sailor  named  Paul,  and  another 
followed  him  on  the  7th  of  June.  On  the  10th  of  June  they 
reached  the  depot  at  Repulse  Harbour.  They  had  plenty  of 
provisions,  but  unfortunately  it  was  just  the  provisions  which 
had  caused  the  disaster. 

Open  water  prevented  them  from  crossing  over  to  the  Alert, 
so  they  decided  to  travel  down  to  Hall's  Grave.  The  day  after 
they  had  altered  their  course  a  seaman  named  Dobing  died,  and 
another  man  named  Jones  had,  because  of  his  weakness,  such  an 
awkward  fall  that  he  had  not  the  strength  to  go  very  much  fur- 
ther. How  they  managed  to  pull  the  sledges  up  Gap  Valley, 
with  all  this  illness  and  exhaustion,  is  a  perfect  riddle  to  us  who 
have  looked  at  the  stony  pass.  The  English  will,  which  often 
stiffens  into  obstinacy,  manifested  itself  here ;  there  is  nothing 
to  say  but  this,  that  as  there  was  no  other  way  they  went  up 
through  Valley  Pass.  We  others  can  only  bare  our  heads  to 
those  who  did  it.  At  last  they  reached  Newman  Bay,  where 
Beaumont  himself,  as  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  pull  all  the  six 
comrades  along  on  the  sledge,  intended  to  go  to  Hall's  Grave, 
96 


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Xu^u  I      ft. 


Beaumont's  report    1876 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

for  there  was  a  possibility  that  a  relief  party  might  have  been 
sent  out  and  would  be  waiting  there.  And  there  fortune  met 
them,  and  saved  those  who  eould  still  be  saved,  as  they  fell  in 
with  Lieutenant  Rawson,  Dr.  Coppinger,  and  Hans  Hendrik 
with  his  dog  sledge. 

After  a  long  rest  near  Hall's  Grave,  Beaumont  continued  his 
journey  across  Hall  Basin  to  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  where  the 
Discovcri)  was  lying.  On  the  14th  of  August,  after  a  most 
adventurous  journey  on  drifting  ice-floes,  they  at  length  reached 
the  ship. 


TO    WORK    AT   LAST 

We  now  started  in  earnest.  Our  expedition  had  covered 
the  first  thousand  kilometres  of  the  journey,  and  we  were  already 
in  tracts  where  we  might  hope  for  a  good  hunting.  We  had 
left  home  with  provisions  for  two  months,  but  half  of  them  we 
used  up  on  our  journey,  the  other  half  being  deposited  a  short 
distance  below  Beaumont's  beacon.  This  latter  half  consisted 
of  pemmican,  biscuits,  coffee,  oats,  tea,  sugar,  tobacco,  and  a 
quantity  of  ammunition,  the  last  so  far  superfluous.  We  hoped 
that,  before  our  departure,  we  should  be  able  to  supplement  this 
with  some  fresh  meat  for  ourselves  and  the  dogs.  We  did  not 
yet  know  from  which  point  we  should  ascend  on  to  the  inland-ice 
on  our  return  journey,  but  as  the  probability  was  that  it  would 
take  place  here,  we  relieved  the  sledges  as  soon  as  possible  of 
superfluous  things,  so  that  we  should  not  drag  on  unnecessary 
baggage.  We  also  left  two  sledges,  and  the  teams  of  these  were 
distributed  among  the  other  sledges.  Above  everything,  it  was 
of  importance  that  we  should  make  good  speed,  and  so  we  burnt 
our  boats  behind  us  by  providing  ourselves  with  food  for  men 
lor  three  days  only,  and  for  the  dogs  only  one  meal,  which  would 
be  given  to  them  the  first  time  we  made  camp. 

AVe  had  now  six  dog  teams  of  altogether  seventy  dogs,  and 
if  these  could  only  have  a  few  days'  rest  and  strong  food,  they 
would  soon  regain  their  full  strength.  At  the  moment  the  posi- 
tion, so  far  as  the  dogs  were  concerned,  was  somewhat  critical ; 
G  97 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR    SEA 

the  fight  against  the  pressure-ice  had  obviously  worn  down  both 
their  bodies  and  their  tempers.  They  no  longer  walked  proudly 
with  tails  erect,  the  expression  of  their  eyes  was  subdued,  and 
their  skins  no  more  possessed  that  glossiness  which  is  the  surest 
proof  of  well-being  and  strength.  Their  tails  flopped  limply 
between  their  legs,  and  we  all  felt  it  our  duty  to  restore  their 
strength  as  soon  as  possible. 

A  reconnoitring  in  the  neighbourhood  had  a  discouraging 
result.  We  walked  far  into  a  snowless,  stony  terrain,  but 
nowhere  could  we  find  fresh  tracks  of  musk-ox.  Scattered 
flocks  seemed  to  have  been  here  many  years  ago,  but  not  even 
the  clay  showed  recent  tracks.  Of  ground  game  there  was  a 
fair  amount  of  hares ;  they  were  very  shy — an  unfailing  indica- 
tion of  the  absence  of  musk-ox.  In  all  places  where  the  hares 
eat  grass  side  by  side  with  the  wandering  wolves,  they  flee  as 
soon  as  they  get  a  glimpse  of  any  other  living  thing.  And, 
according  to  the  tracks,  it  would  seem  that  there  were  not  a  few 
wolves.  It  was  obvious  that  the  hares  were  used  to  meeting 
enemies  only.  But  where  they  live  on  land  with  peaceful  musk- 
oxen,  they  show,  on  the  contrary,  no  nervousness  even  if  one 
takes  them  by  surprise  rather  suddenly  on  the  hill-crest. 

We  often  saw  ptarmigans,  but  only  in  single  pairs  ;  but  these 
were  too  small,  so  for  the  time  being  we  would  not  kill  any  great 
amount  of  them.  Their  white  winter  coats,  which  previously 
made  them  so  conspicuous  in  snow-bare  spots  where  they  seek 
their  food,  were  already  beginning  to  give  place  to  the  brown 
feathers  of  the  summer.  They  filled  the  landscape  with  their 
cooing,  which  between  these  silent  mountains  sounds  like  a  song 
in  the  loneliness. 

The  tableland  inside  St.  George  Fjord,  dotted  with  moun- 
tains, so  far  did  not  tempt  us  to  waste  our  time  hunting ;  and 
those  parts  of  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  which  from  the  moun- 
tain we  had  been  able  to  survey  with  our  field-glasses  were,  to  our 
great  disappointment,  so  glaciated  that  a  visit  there  would  be 
too  risky.  I  therefore  decided  to  postpone  the  exploration  of 
these  fjords  for  the  time  being,  until  we  felt  our  existence  some- 
what secure  by  successful  hunting.  We  were  beginning  to  feel 
98 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

a  little  of  the  hazard  which  is  bound  up  with  the  life  of  the  Eskimo 
and  of  the  expeditions,  whose  future,  after  the  manner  of  the 
hunters,  depends  upon  hunting  on  new  grounds. 


THE   FIRST   HUNTING 

May  8th. — We  have  been  continually  looking  out  for  the 
snow  which  caused  Beaumont  and  his  men  such  great  difficulties, 
and  only  to-day  on  our  way  to  Cape  May  do  we  find  it.  For 
the  first  time  since  we  left  Thule  the  dogs  lie  down  and  refuse  to 
continue,  and,  so  that  the  whip  might  not  be  used  too  indus- 
triously, we  prefer  to  go  in  front  on  skis.  The  dogs  then  will- 
ingly follow,  dragging  the  heavy  sledges.  We  have  all  taken  to 
our  snowshoes  and  skis,  for  without  them  it  is  quite  impossible  to 
make  one's  way  through  the  snow.  Once  more  we  admire  Beau- 
mont and  his  men  who,  with  the  intolerable  pains  of  scurvy, 
stumbled  across  ground  like  this,  with  stiff  legs,  tender,  skinned 
feet,  and,  from  the  traces  of  the  sledge,  sores  on  shoulders  and 
back. 

After  six  hours  of  toilsome  marching,  we  reach  a  large  block  of 
ice  where  we  make  a  halt,  as  thick  weather  from  the  west  draws 
across  the  fjord  and  blocks  our  view.  A  clammy  fog  envelops 
everything  and  a  raw  breeze  gives  us  a  gloomy  greeting  from  the 
Arctic  Ocean. 

May  9th-llth. — The  following  day  we  have  to  continue  in  the 
same  weather,  for  it  would  be  impossible  to  remain  here.  Some 
distance  from  Cape  May  the  weather  clears  and  turns  out  fine, 
and  we  hurry  ahead  and  reach  land  after  six  hours. 

We  round  Cape  May  through  difficult  pressure-ice,  and  when 
we  have  passed  a  headland  where  the  ice  is  even  and  bare  of  snow, 
the  dogs  set  off  at  a  trot  whilst  we  ourselves  for  the  first  time 
during  a  long  period  throw  ourselves  down  on  the  empty  sledges. 
We  know  from  previous  American  expeditions  that  half  a 
score  of  years  ago  there  were  musk-oxen  in  this  neighbourhood, 
and  I  therefore  decide  to  try  to  hunt  in  earnest  before  the  dogs 
are  too  far  gone.  Ajako  and  Inukitsoq  are  sent  up  through  the 
valleys  to  some  large  mountainous  stretches,  topped  by  glaciers, 

99 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR    SEA 

which  certainly  appear  more  generously  covered  with  ice  than 
suits  us.  Koch  and  I  accompany  them  for  some  distance,  and 
discover  to  our  joy  that  the  land  here  has  a  far  richer  vegetation 
than  the  barren  coast  between  Newman  Bay  and  Sherard 
Osborne  Fjord.  We  also  find  tracks  in  the  clay  of  musk-ox  and 
a  quantity  of  excrements  which  cannot  be  very  old.  And  while 
the  two  hunters  continue  their  way,  each  dragging  his  dog  along, 
we  hurry  back  to  the  sledges  to  find  a  convenient  place  for  a  camp 
further  ahead. 

As  soon  as  we  find  a  place,  I  run  off  to  the  mountains  with 
Bosun  and  Hendrik,  while  Wulff  and  Koch  are  left  behind  to 
pitch  the  tent. 

After  a  laborious  climb  up  the  mountain-sides,  consisting 
only  of  small  stones  which  slide  downward  under  our  feet,  we 
reach  the  top  of  a  high  tableland  stretching  inland.  We  pass 
two  skeletons  of  musk-oxen,  but  they  are  too  old  to  damp  the 
excitement  which  has  seized  upon  us.  A  little  later  we  reach  the 
edge  of  the  stony  tableland,  and  from  this  point  we  look  across 
a  broad,  large  valley  penetrating  far  into  the  land.  Two  large 
rivers  still  lie  frozen  on  both  sides  of  the  valley,  right  against 
the  high  mountains.  We  barely  get  a  glimpse  of  some  large 
lakes,  the  fertile  banks  of  which  would  surely  present  a  tempt- 
ing abode  for  the  game  we  seek.  The  land  shows  a  grand 
alternation  of  plain  and  mountain,  but  in  vain  do  we  examine 
with  the  field-glasses  all  cloughs,  river-beds,  and  valleys  which 
our  eye  can  reach.  Not  a  living  form  do  we  discover,  and  we 
return  disappointed  to  our  tent. 

Disappointment  always  increases  a  hunter's  weariness ;  we 
therefore  all  felt  as  if  we  had  weights  of  lead  round  our  ankles 
when  we  returned  without  a  catch.  Slowly  we  slid  down  the 
mountain  without  energy  in  our  movements,  without  spirit  as 
we  rushed  down  the  steep  snowdrifts.  But  hardly  had  we  got 
near  the  tent  before  Wulff  tore  aside  the  flap,  running  towards 
us ;  Ajako  had  shot  the  first  musk-oxen  on  our  voyage — three 
cows  !  This  certainly  put  new  life  into  us  ;  our  tiredness  seemed 
blown  away,  and  we  began  at  once  to  crawl  up  the  big  moun- 
tain from  which  we  had  just  rushed  down,  and  where  the  hunters 
100 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

were  still  busy  flaying  their  quarry.  I  need  not  describe  this 
beautiful  finish  to  a  Long  day's  journey;  suffice  it  to  say  that 
we  gorged  ourselves  with  tongues  and  choice  morsels  far  into 
the  night,  and  that  the  sleep,  which  later  overwhelmed  us  and 
all  the  sated  dogs  lying  around  the  tents,  was  as  long  as  it  was 
well-earned. 

We  have  now  to  exploit  the  country  through  systematic 
hunts,  wherefore  we  divide  into  two  parties.  VVulff,  Ajako, 
Inukitsoq,  and  Hendrik  go  in  different  directions  into  the  great 
valley  which  we  saw  from  the  mountain  yesterday.  Inukitsoq 
had  on  his  hunt  found  a  lot  of  fresh  tracks  and  excrements  in 
sand  and  clay.  It  would  therefore  appear  that  the  hunters 
would  have  an  exciting  time  if  only  they  would  persevere. 
According  to  this  arrangement  we  should  have  sufficient  hunters 
for  the  immediate  vicinity,  so  I  myself  chose  to  drive  in  Vic- 
toria Fjord  with  Bosun,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  hunting, 
partly  so  that  I  might  more  closely  examine  the  country.  We 
have  the  advantage  of  being  relatively  many,  so  that  in  the 
course  of  a  few  days  we  shall  have  obtained  a  perfect  survey 
of  the  new  land.  When  I  mentioned  the  first  disposals  for  our 
journey,  I  emphasized  that  we  could  with  certainty  expect  to 
catch  seals  some  time  during  the  spring,  as  Eskimos  who  had 
accompanied  American  expeditions  in  these  regions  had  told 
of  the  many  breathing-holes  they  found  in  places  where  the  ice 
was  young.  But  we  could  not  reckon  on  a  catch  yet,  as  it  was 
still  too  early  in  the  spring.  Neither  could  we  reckon  on  find- 
ing bears  so  far  north,  where  the  massive  quality  of  the  ice 
would  make  it  difficult  for  then;  to  find  food.  We  found  a 
track  off  Cape  May,  but  that  was  the  only  one  we  had  so  far 
observed. 

During  the  coming  few  months  we  must  thus  rely  upon  the 
musk-ox  only,  and  as,  according  to  the  map,  the  inner  reaches 
of  Victoria  Fjord  contain  large  stretches  of  land,  Bosun  and  I 
hurriedly  collected  our  best  dogs  and  set  off  before  our  com- 
rades were  ready.  Yesterday's  meals  of  solid  meat  had  revived 
the  dogs,  and  in  the  beginning  we  made  good  speed.     We 

101 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

drove  into  the  narrow  inlet  between  land  and  the  tall  Stephenson 
Island,  impressive  with  its  steep,  exclusive  mountains,  the 
inmost  regions  of  which  are  covered  by  local  glaciers. 

We  set  off  in  the  evening,  and  in  quiet,  beautiful  sunshine 
we  struggled  inland,  taking  turns  at  leading.  Bosun,  a  boy 
not  yet  twenty  years  old,  had  repeatedly  shown  a  surprising 
capacity  for  endurance ;  he  had  a  healthy,  even  temperament 
and  did  not  seem  susceptible  to  any  kind  of  adversity,  if  only 
he  could  get  somewhere  near  the  rations  which  his  young 
muscles  demanded.  He  enjoyed  his  meals  very  much,  and  occa- 
sionally surprised  us  with  his  voracious  appetite. 

A  rather  large  island  behind  Stephenson  Island  is  marked  on 
the  map,  but  it  proved  to  be  non-existent.  Twenty-five  kilo- 
metres into  Victoria  Fjord  we  got  the  view  which  we  were  in 
search  of,  and  drove  into  a  bay  to  the  west  of  the  big  island,  look- 
ing for  a  place  suitable  for  a  camp,  so  that  the  dogs  might  rest 
while  we,  in  snowshoes,  continued  further  inland. 

We  ascended  the  mountains  immediately,  and  found  to  our 
surprise  that  this  fjord,  which  had  previously  been  described  as  an 
enormous  arm  of  the  ocean,  so  deep  that  one  could  not  even  dis- 
cern the  land  at  its  head,  is  hardly  more  than  80  kilometres  in 
length.  The  head  of  the  fjord  ends  in  a  broad  glacier  which, 
faintly  sloping,  merges  into  the  inland-ice  itself.  The  great 
stretches  of  surrounding  land,  which  the  old  map  promised  we 
should  find  here,  do  not  exist.  Far  to  the  north-east  we  found 
land,  but  it  consisted  only  of  steep,  glaciated  mountains,  stand- 
ing like  narrow  walls  with  their  backs  clean  against  the  inland- 
ice.  Also  to  the  south-west  we  saw  far  inland  a  steep  alpine 
landscape  with  occasional  broad  doughs,  but  the  entrance  to  this 
was  blocked,  as  the  inner  reaches  of  the  fjord  consisted  of  floating 
inland-ice,  slowly  moving  outward,  so  that  trackless  ravines  were 
apparent  not  very  far  from  our  look-out. 

This  fjord,  from  which  we  had  expected  so  much,  proved  to 
possess  none  of  the  means  of  subsistence  necessary  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  our  scientific  work.  Hunting  in  this  country  would 
be  both  dangerous  and  futile.  We  could  only  hope  for  better 
conditions  round  Nordenskjold  Fjord.  We  discerned  moun- 
102 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

tains  far  away  to  the  north-east,  but  even  from  the  point  on  which 
we  were  now  standing,  it  was  obvious  that  the  land  would  not 
stretch  far  in  ;  for  the  back  of  the  inland-ice  shot  up  all-embracing 
over  the  tracts  where  we  had  expected  land-hunting. 

The  only  place  left  to  us  was  the  big  peninsula  between  Vic- 
toria Fjord  and  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord,  but  even  this  did  not 
seem  promising.  Although  occasional,  even  stretches  with  low 
knolls  exist  here — a  landscape  much  favoured  by  musk-oxen — 
many  little  local  glaciers  shot  in  between  them,  killing  all  life. 

Our  hunt  over  the  surrounding  neighbourhood  resulted  in  a 
bag  of  two  hares,  one  of  which  we  cooked  before,  disappointed 
and  tired,  we  started  the  long  return  journey  to  our  comrades, 
whom  with  unwilling  and  weary  dogs  we  reached  after  an 
absence  of  twenty-four  hours. 

On  our  arrival  Koch  came  running  out  of  the  tent,  and  his 
gestures  showed  us  at  once  that  he  had  good  news.  Ajako  and 
Wulff  had  shot  six  musk-oxen,  and  all  the  three  sledges  had 
gone  out  to  fetch  the  animals  ! 

Great  joy ! 

Towards  morning — it  was  one  of  the  first  really  warm  days — 
the  sledges  returned  with  barking,  overeaten  dogs.  Inukitsoq 
had,  during  his  hunt  for  hares,  met  a  flock  of  ten  animals  right 
opposite  to  the  six  which  had  already  been  shot,  and  which  they 
had  come  to  fetch,  and  the  hunt  of  the  day  thus  brought  in 
sixteen  musk-oxen. 

Still  greater  joy ! 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  Koch  and  Inukitsoq  drove 
in  Victoria  Fjord  for  the  purpose  of  charting  it. 


DAYS   OF   REST  AND   FATTENING 

May  12th-17th. — The  welcome  meat  which  we  have  now 
collected  makes  it  possible  for  us  to  give  the  dogs  the  rest  which 
they  so  richly  deserve.  They  will  now  be  allowed  to  laze  about 
for  a  week  or  so,  and  to  eat  as  much  as  they  can  get  down  ;  then 
they  will  once  more  be  fit  to  take  up  the  work  which  for  the 

103 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR    SEA 

time  being  is  interrupted.  And  these  days  of  good  hunting  do  not 
merely  mean  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  we  shall  again  be 
ready  to  continue  our  journey  with  fit  and  willing  dogs ;  they 
also  mean  that  we  shall  be  able  to  clear  up  behind  us  before  we 
continue.  For  we  are  now  going  back  to  Sherard  Osborne 
Fjord  so  that  we  may  chart  this  fjord  as  well. 

To-day  we  choose  a  convenient  site  for  our  camp,  where  we 
can  enjoy  life  at  not  too  great  a  distance  from  the  killed  musk- 
oxen.  We  drive  up  the  river  which  runs  through  the  southern 
side  of  the  valley  to  the  big,  beautiful  lake  on  the  banks  of  which 
the  welcome  big  game  had  to  bite  the  dust.  The  tracts  round 
the  river  and  the  sea  look  kind  and  fertile,  comparatively  large 
grass  plains  stretching  across  the  well-watered  spaces.  We, 
who  for  a  long  period  have  been  accustomed  to  barren,  stony 
fields,  feel  that  all  this  grass  dotted  with  willows  is  a  greeting 
from  the  summer,  which  fights  its  everlasting  battle  against 
the  ice. 

Here  is  plenty  of  excrement  of  musk-oxen ;  every  stretch 
of  clay  and  sand  bears  the  imprint  of  their  hoofs,  and  all  signs 
point  to  the  probability  that  the  killed  animals  must  have  lived 
near  this  sea  for  a  long  time. 

Behind  the  sea  the  lowland  stretches  inland  as  a  broad 
clough-like  valley.  Wherever  the  eye  rests,  stone  predominates  ; 
but  nevertheless  it  is  apparent  that  the  many  little  rivulets,  which 
during  summer-time  seem  to  run  down  the  brown  sides  of  the 
mountains,  water  the  neighbourhood  so  plentifully  that  in  the 
midst  of  this  desert  of  stone  one  finds  little  oases  where 
herbivorous  animals  can  exist.  Apparently  here  is  also  an  abun- 
.dance  of  hares,  and  for  the  first  time  since  we  left  the  flesh-pots 
of  home  we  have  the  feeling  that  we  can  eat  our  fill,  without 
the  fear  that  a  greedy  appetite  shall  take  too  big  a  slice  out  of 
the  rations  apportioned  to  each  man. 

The  ice  on  the  lake  bears  witness  that  we  have  arrived  in 
no  quiet  valley.  Along  the  bank  it  is  bare  of  snow  and  shiny, 
but  further  in  the  drifts  have  been  whipped  stony  hard  by  sand 
and  gravel.  On  the  snow-bare  grass  plain  we  pitch  the  tents, 
and  it  is  delicious  for  once  to  lie  on  ground  which  does  not  con- 
104 


7' 


*   ^*?*v 


THE     FIRST    THREE    MUSK-OXEN 


INUKITSOQS    TEN    MUSK-OXEN 


I 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

sist  of  cold,  creaking  snow.  The  nearest  musk-oxen  are  being 
dragged  down  and  the  dogs  have  a  meal  so  substantial  that  they 
lie  down  with  big,  balloon?  stomachs,  groaning  and  ovcrgorged, 
dreaming  of  the  time  when  there  was  nothing  called  expeditions. 
We  men  sink  into  the  same  materialistic  state,  but  with  the 
difference  that  we  carefully  select  all  the  delicious  morsels  which 
constitute  the  chief  relish  of  an  Eskimo  hunter  after  a  successful 
catch.  Of  the  killed  animals,  fourteen  are  cows  and  eleven 
bulls.  Round  the  hearts  and  kidneys  of  the  oxen  we  find  not  a 
little  fat,  and  also  in  the  hollows  of  their  eyes  there  are  large 
adipose  deposits;  this  we  eat  with  a  specially  keen  appetite,  for 
the  meat  we  have  lived  on  hitherto  has  been  very  lean,  and  in 
these  regions  one's  craving  for  fat  is  greater  than  in  other  places. 

The  days  are  raw  and  cold  in  the  valley,  and,  although  the 
temperature  registered  is  only  between  10  and  12  degrees  of 
frost  (Cent.),  the  wind  is  unpleasant.  There  is  an  incessant 
drift  of  sand  and  stone,  and  when  we  go  out  for  meat,  our  coats 
are  covered  with  dirty,  sandy  snow,  which  sticks  between  the 
hairs  and  is  almost  impossible  to  shake  off.  We  therefore 
decide  as  far  as  possible  to  remain  in  the  tents,  where  we  spend 
a  pleasant  day  munching. 

May  15th. — The  15th  of  May  is  uncommonly  raw  and 
windy.  We  bring  the  last  carcases  down  to  the  tent,  and  make 
ready  to  go  down  on  the  ocean-ice  again,  where  there  is  more 
shelter  and  more  warmth  from  the  sun  than  in  these  windy 
quarters. 

A  couple  of  the  large  animals,  which  were  deposited  near 
a  mountain  from  which  transport  was  particularly  difficult,  were 
fetched  immediately  before  we  moved.  On  this  trip  we  found 
behind  a  big  stone  a  dead  musk-ox  which  strikingly  illustrated 
animal  life  up  here.  The  musk-ox  was  a  young  animal ;  it  had 
been  pursued  by  a  wolf,  and  in  its  fear  of  its  deadly  enemy  it 
forgot  to  use  its  eyes  and  got  its  legs  squeezed  in  between  two 
large  stones.  In  this  helpless  position  it  was  an  easy  prey  for 
the  wolf.  With  one  single  snap  the  thick  gristly  throat  was 
ripped  up,  and  the  rent,  as  if  cut  with  a  blade,  went  straight 
downwards  through  the  chest  to  the  diaphragm,  which  had  been 

105 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

torn  up  with  a  single  wrench  of  the  iron  jaws  of  the  wolf.  The 
whole  cut  was  dealt  by  an  expert  possessing  a  certainty  in  the 
method  of  killing  achieved  only  by  the  habitual  perpetrator  of 
violence.  Only  the  tongue,  the  heart,  and  the  fat  round  the 
intestines  was  eaten,  otherwise  the  flesh  had  not  been  touched. 
There  were  traces  of  fox  round  the  spot,  but  strangely  enough  it 
did  not  appear  as  if  the  fox  had  feasted  greatly  on  the  huge  car- 
case ;  perhaps  they  prefer  the  tender  and  fat  lemmings  to  the 
tougher  big  game. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  16th  of  May,  Koch  and 
Inukitsoq  arrived  from  Victoria  Fjord.  Not  only  had  they 
examined  and  charted  the  fjord,  but  in  addition  they  had  had 
the  good  fortune  to  shoot  six  musk-oxen  on  the  lowlands  which 
Bosun  and  I  traversed  in  vain.  We  could  not  withhold  our 
shouts  of  joy  when  we  received  this  news  ;  for  beside  the  chart- 
ing work  of  this  last  fjord,  our  stay  in  Nares  Land  since  the 
9th  of  May  has  resulted  in  a  catch  of  twenty-six  musk-oxen  and 
thirty  hares.  The  survey  of  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  now 
remains.  I  consider  it  advisable  to  set  the  course  southward 
again  as  soon  as  weather  permits,  and  the  expedition  is  divided 
into  two  parties  :  One  hunting  party,  consisting  of  Dr.  Wulff, 
Hendrik,  Inukitsoq,  and  Bosun,  continues  northward  towards 
the  supposed  land  round  Nordenskjold  Inlet.  The  charting 
party  consists  of  Koch,  Ajako,  and  myself.  We  return  tem- 
porarily to  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  to  finish  our  work  there. 
But  we  decide  that  Hendrik  and  Bosun  shall  accompany  us  in 
order  to  fetch  part  of  the  goods  left  at  Dragon  Point,  whilst 
Inukitsoq  drives  in  Victoria  Fjord  to  fetch  the  rest  of  the  meat 
deposited  there  by  himself  and  Koch.  Wulff  remains  in  camp 
to  hunt  hares  in  the  neighbourhood  until  his  party  is  collected 
and  clear  for  the  journey. 

In  the  meantime  dirty  weather  seems  to  be  brewing,  and  in 
order  not  to  prolong  unnecessarily  our  stay  in  this  valley  of  the 
far  too  powerful  lungs,  we  move  our  camp  on  to  a  little  island 
at  the  mouth  of  Nares  Fjord  where,  at  the  same  time,  we  deposit 
all  our  precious  musk-ox  meat.  Whilst  the  rest  of  us  drive  the 
meat-laden  sledges  to  the  depot,  Wulff  elects  to  walk  the  .5  kilo- 
106 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

metres  across  land  to  the  little  island  which  we  call  Depot  Island. 
Although  the  distance  is  short,  it  took  Wulff  fourteen  hours  to 
find  his  way  through  the  heavily  driving  snow.  We  were  unable 
to  search  for  him,  as  none  of  us  knew  in  which  direction  the 
hunting  might  have  led  him,  and  great  was  our  joy  when  at  last 
he  arrived  with  a  catch  of  ten  hares. 

The  hares  here  appear  in  big  flocks,  and  arc  surprisingly  tame 
compared  to  those  we  have  hitherto  met.  They  are  obviously 
accustomed  to  grazing  with  the  musk-oxen,  and  therefore  con- 
sider man  to  be  just  as  peaceful  as  are  these  huge  animals. 


BACK   TO   DRAGON   POINT 

May  18th-l9th. — The  storm  of  the  last  few  days  has  added 
more  than  a  foot  of  soft,  new  snow,  aggravating  the  old  and 
already  awkward  going  on  the  fjord,  so  that  we  now  have  the 
'"  icing-sugar  "  state  of  which  Beaumont  complains  in  his  report. 
Although  the  dogs  have  had  eight  days'  rest,  during  which  time 
they  have  been  gorged  with  food,  it  does  not  take  long  before 
they  are  again  ready  to  give  up.  Once  more  we  have  to  start 
our  old  game  of  walking  in  front  of  the  dogs  on  snowshoes  and 
skis,  but  it  is  slow  work,  and  progress  is  made  without  the  good 
spirit  usually  attendant  on  a  sledge-train  when  the  dogs  trot 
willingly  ahead.  We  have  twenty-two  shoulders  of  musk-ox 
meat,  and  these  we  hope  will  enable  us  to  accomplish  the  work 
which  we  have  decided  on.  During  our  stay  in  the  musk-ox 
valley  we  have  already  killed  all  the  dogs  which  we  thought  we 
could  do  without ;  for  even  if  hunting  has  been  favourable  so 
far,  it  is  an  advantage  to  have  as  few  mouths  as  possible  to  feed 
in  these  regions — partly  because  musk-oxen  are  very  lean  at 
this  time  of  the  year,  partly  also  because  the  bones  are  too  mas- 
sive for  the  dogs  to  gnaw.  AH  our  dogs  lack  the  saw-edges  of 
the_raptorious  tooth,  these  having,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  Eskimo,  been  removed  whilst  the  dogs  were  young.  This 
operation  is  advantageous  for  the  travelling  explorer,  in  so  far 
as  the  dog  is  unable  to  eat  his  harness  and  traces  when  hunger 

107 


GREENLAND    BY   THE    POLAR    SEA 

forces  him  to  make  such  an  attempt,  for  harness  and  traces 
are  unplaceable  during  a  journey.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it 
is  robbed  of  the  ability  to  eat  very  hard  bones. 

We  had  fine,  beautiful  weather,  but  for  all  that  we  did  not 
succeed  in  reaching  the  depot  in  one  run.  We  had  to  camp 
right  out  on  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord,  just  as  we  did  on  the 
outward  journey,  and  not  until  the  19th  at  noon  did  we  reach 
our  old  camp. 

May  19th. — Immediately  before  our  arrival  at  the  depot 
we  saw  to  our  great  pleasure  the  first  seal  crawling  up  on  the 
ice  to  sun  itself ;  unfortunately  it  was  not  killed,  although  Ajako 
got  very  close  to  it,  the  bullet  passing  above  its  head.  In  spite 
of  this  mishap,  the  occurrence  was  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  us.  For  when  the  seals  begin  to  crawl  up  through  the  old 
thick  Polar-ice  already  by  the  middle  of  May,  we  are  sure  of 
good  hunting  here  nearer  the  end  of  June.  Successful  seal- 
hunting  in  this  neighbourhood  will  simplify  our  return  journey 
very  much. 

Twenty  hours  of  hare-hunting  gives  the  very  meagre  bag 
of  only  one  animal,  for  in  this  neighbourhood  the  hares  are  so 
timid  that  they  run  off  long  before  a  shot  can  reach  them. 
Some  distance  from  the  camp  we  found  the  skeleton  of  a  seal 
on  the  shore  ;  it  had  been  caught  and  eaten  by  a  bear.  It  thus 
seems  that  the  bears  pay  occasional  visits  here,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  we  may  succeed  in  meeting  one  of  these  wandering 
fellows. 

While  Hendrik  and  Bosun  drive  back  to  Depot  Island,  the 
rest  of  us  make  the  last  preparations  for  the  journey  into 
Sherard  Osborne  Fjord.  First,  however,  we  watch  their  start. 
Slowly,  very  slowly,  the  dark  figures  move  across  the  ice.  The 
snow  is  deep  and  so  loose  that  the  sledges  sink  into  it  in  spite 
of  the  skis.  The  dogs  sink  down  to  their  bellies,  dragging  their 
tails  behind  them. 

For  a  long  time  we  hear  across  the  quiet  fjord  the  drivers 
desperately  shouting  to  the  dogs. 

108 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

IN    SHERARD    OSBORNE    FJORD 

May  20th-22nd. — The  ice  in  along  the  fjord  proves  to  be 
better  than  we  expeeted,  and  for  the  first  20  kilometres  we 
could  drive  at  a  loitering  pace  without  an  outrunner.  Six  kilo- 
metres from  Dragon  Point  we  again  see  a  seal.  I  'nl'ortunately 
we  do  not  get  within  shooting  distance,  as  it  heard  us  before  we 
caught  sight  of  it,  and  plopped  down  through  its  breathing-hole 
as  soon  as  we  stopped  in  order  to  attempt  to  creep  up  to  it. 

We  pass  the  tall,  beautiful  Castle  Island  and  get  30  kilo- 
metres into  St.  Andrew  Bay,  as  further  in  the  snow  gets  deeper, 
absolutely  unnerving  the  dogs.  The  ice  here  is  very  uneven 
and  has  the  characteristics  of  floating  inland-ice.  East  of  Castle 
Island  we  come  across  a  couple  of  large  pressure-ridges  running 
at  right  angles  on  to  land,  parallel  to  the  glacier;  this  indicates 
that  the  ice,  even  so  far  out  as  this,  has  been  under  the  pressure 
of  the  main  glacier  itself. 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  Koch  and  Ajako  go  into  the 
mountains  with  a  theodolite  to  take  the  bearings  of  St.  George 
Fjord.  At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  return,  having 
had  a  view  of  the  fjord,  discovering  large  snow-free  land  behind 
and  to  the  south-west.  They  have  also  seen  an  evenly  sloping 
glacier  which,  between  a  couple  of  large  mountains,  seems  to 
have  an  even  and  good  connection  with  the  main  glacier.  This 
observation  further  strengthens  my  resolve  later  on  to  try  an 
ascent  from  this  vicinity,  when  the  return  journey  will  some- 
time lead  us  on  to  the  inland-ice. 

Ajako  has  shot  two  hares,  which  constitute  a  delicious  even- 
ing meal  and  enable  us  to  save  the  musk-ox  meat  for  the  dogs. 
We  have  only  brought  one  single,  though  abundant,  ration  for 
them,  depositing  the  rest  at  Dragon  Point  for  the  return 
journey. 

Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  my  comrades  two  snow-white 
wolves  are  silhouetted  high  up  on  a  hill-crest.  Their  slender 
bodies  show  their  plastic  beauty  against  the  sharply-blue  sky, 
and  they  look  quite  anciently  Norse  as  they  trot  down  towards 
our  camp,  sniffing  and  scenting,  full  of  wonderment. 

10!) 


GREENLAND    BY    THE    POLAR    SEA 

They  stop  suddenly  by  the  iee-foot  about  500  metres  from 
our  tent  and  follow  for  a  whole  hour,  thoroughly  examining  the 
trail  of  Koch  and  Ajako,  trotting  up  and  down,  now  and  then 
stopping  to  sniff.  Then  they  lift  their  heads  and  howl  long 
and  persistently,  a  strangely  melancholic  and  lonely-sounding 
song  of  lamentation,  which  echoes  between  the  mountains. 
Our  dogs  prick  their  ears  and  look  landward  in  surprise,  as  if 
they  heard  well-known  but  forgotten  tunes ;  they  arise  and 
stare  searchingly  towards  the  mountains,  but  they  do  not  join 
in  the  chorus.  As  the  wolves  do  not  appear  to  wish  to  come 
nearer,  Ajako  approaches  them  with  gun  and  a  dog,  a  small, 
lean  bitch  which  has  previously  shown  itself  to  be  a  good  bear 
dog.  One  of  the  wolves,  evidently  the  male,  is  very  large  and 
strong,  and  its  trot  is  springy  and  the  fall  of  its  feet  rapid. 
The  other  one  seems  somewhat  frailer,  but  nevertheless  it  is 
more  sinewy  than  a  dog.  As  soon  as  the  little  white  bitch 
catches  sight  of  these  rare  beasts  of  prey,  which  have  the  same 
colour  as  itself,  it  rushes  barking  to  the  land,  with  tail  erect, 
ready  to  attack.  But  the  big,  silent  hermits,  which  are  so  much 
stronger  and  in  full  possession  of  their  knife-sharp  teeth,  put 
their  tails  between  their  legs  and  flee  cowardly  in  among  the 
mountains.  They  both  have  blood  on  their  chops,  and  have 
presumably  just  been  feasting  on  musk-ox  meat ;  a  smaller 
animal  could  hardly  have  smeared  them  so  extensively  with 
blood.  An  hour  later  the  little  dog  returned,  steaming  with 
heat,  but  apparently  disappointed  over  the  lost  opportunity  of 
an  open  fight. 

It  is  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  we  go  to  rest  after  a 
long  day  full  of  events. 

On  the  inward  journey  travelling  conditions  are  yet  more 
difficult ;  the  uneven  ice  and  the  snow,  which  becomes  deeper 
and  deeper  the  further  we  go,  take  the  strength  out  of  the  dogs 
to  such  an  extent  that  I  decide  to  abandon  driving  and  attempt 
to  continue  on  skis.  We  make  a  halt  by  a  headland  and  shoot 
four  of  the  slackest  dogs.  After  this,  we  give  the  remaining 
dogs  a  feed  of  musk-oxen.  The  original  decision  was  to  con- 
110 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

tinue  inward  at  once,  but  this  has  to  be  given  up,  as  Koch  is  so 
exhausted  after  several  days  of  diarrhoea  that  he  has  to  rest; 
furthermore,  Ajako  has  gone  snow-blind.  Thus  the  distance 
covered  during  the  day  is  only  10  kilometres;  but  then,  the 
dogs  were  unusually  slack  and  weak.  The  only  encouragement 
the  day  had  to  offer  us  was  the  trail  of  a  lemming,  which  showed 
that  this  strong  and  obstinate  little  animal  had  set  out  on  a 
journey  which  was  to  take  it  from  one  coast  of  the  wide  fjord  to 
the  other. 

May  23rd. — At  one  o'clock  in  the  night  Koch  and  I. 
respectively  on  snowshoes  and  skis,  begin  our  toilsome  walk 
through  deep  snow  in  towards  Cape  Buttress,  which  stands  as  a 
mighty  signboard  on  the  point  where  the  fjord  contracts  into 
a  narrow  channel,  from  which  it  widens  out  again  to  a  great 
breadth.  Ajako,  who  is  now  perfectly  snow-blind,  has  to  be 
left  in  the  tent.  The  journey  is  very  strenuous  and  takes  us 
fourteen  hours,  but  it  is  with  interesting  results  that  we  return. 
Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  was  marked  on  the  map  as  the  largest 
of  all  fjords,  as  Cape  Buttress  formed  merely  the  half-way  point 
to  the  inner  widening  which  contracted  here,  and  later  on,  in 
the  full  breadth  of  its  mouth,  swung  slightly  towards  south- 
west up  towards  the  white  inland-ice. 

Cape  Buttress  is  a  wild  and  monumental  complex  of  high 
mountains,  the  summits  of  which  are  covered  by  a  glacier, 
gigantic  and  brilliant  with  red  hues,  blossoming  out  under  the 
rays  of  the  sun. 

We  had  followed  the  coast  on  the  western  side  rather  close 
to  land,  and  every  time  we  looked  eastward  we  saw  a  low  cloud- 
like brim  which  often  covered  the  lower  part  of  the  shore.  It 
was  like  a  small  bank  of  fog  which,  white  and  trembling, 
encircled  the  feet  of  the  mountains.  Only  when  we  arrived 
quite  close  to  the  great  cape  towards  which  we  made  our  course 
did  we  come  suddenly  out  on  the  fog-bank  itself,  and  we  now 
discovered  that  the  mystery  was  low-floating  inland-ice,  reach- 
ing right  down  to  Cape  Gray  on  Castle  Island.  This  floating 
inland-ice,  which  further  out  raises  itself  only  a  couple  of  metres 
above  the  old  Sikiissaq  ice,  mounts  quite  evenly  inward  where, 

111 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR    SEA 

with  the  real  characteristics  of  a  glacier  constantly  increasing 
in  thickness,  it  passes  Cape  Buttress  on  the  inner  side.  No 
fissures  were  apparent,  wherefore  this  ice-stream,  which  runs 
out  between  two  beautiful  mountain  tracts,  would  present  a 
convenient  point  of  ascent  on  to  the  inland-ice  itself  if  one  did 
not  run  the  risk  of  finding  clefts  further  inland.  At  any  rate, 
both  Peary  and  Astrup  mention  that  on  the  main  glacier  inside 
Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  they  often  had  to  take  an  inland  course 
to  get  inside  the  many  broad  and  deep  clefts  which  blocked 
their  way. 

The  discovery  of  this  far-reaching  tongue  of  the  glacier 
reduces  the  extent  of  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  to  a  bare  third  of 
what  previously  it  was  supposed  to  be,  and  at  the  same  time  it 
gives  an  explanation  of  the  belts  of  pressure-ice  which  a  few 
days  ago  we  saw  at  the  height  of  Cape  Gray.  This  ice-stream, 
then,  is  in  constant,  even  movement  outward,  and  thus  exerts 
a  pressure  on  the  old  Polar-ice,  so  that  the  ridges  arise  in  places 
where  otherwise  one  would  not  expect  to  find  any  movement. 

To  the  south-west  of  Cape  Buttress  a  fjord  cuts  in,  sur- 
rounded by  a  great  lowland  ending  in  a  high  cape  on  the  western 
bank.  This  fjord,  with  its  surrounding  land  buried  in  deep 
snow,  we  christened  "  Ski  Cove." 

When  we  had  completed  our  survey  we  turned  homeward, 
and  it  soon  became  apparent  that  Koch,  who  during  these  last 
few  days  had  not  been  well,  was  much  more  ill  than  I  had  sus- 
pected. A  few  times  before  we  reached  our  tent  he  had  to  lie 
down  on  the  ice  to  avoid  fainting,  and  I  am  sure  it  was  with  the 
utmost  effort  that  he  succeeded  in  accomplishing  the  journey, 
which  even  for  a  healthy  man  is  very  tiring,  as  we  had  con- 
tinually to  toil  through  the  deep  snow,  which  was  so  soft  and 
fine  that  neither  skis  nor  snowshoes  would  carry  one. 

May  2Mh. — Whereas  the  weather  was  clear  with  almost  a 
dead  calm  at  the  head  of  the  bay  where  we  had  been,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  fjord  there  had  been  strong  showers  of  driving 
snow  during  the  last  few  days.  The  ice  was  therefore  partly 
blown  away,  and  although  the  dogs  during  the  last  couple  of 
days  had  to  live  on  their  four  killed  comrades,  we  had  no  great 
112 


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THE    LOW    GLACIER    WITH    LINES    OF    MOVEMENT 


DIGGING    OURSELVES    OUT    AFTER    A    SNOWSTORM 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

difficulty  in  driving  them  ahead,  as  travelling  conditions  were 
better. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  journey  we  met  with  an  adven- 
ture which  gave  us  a  good  push  ahead.  We  discovered  sud- 
denly, ahead  of  us,  two  white  forms  slowly  approaching.  In 
the  beginning  we  imagined  them  to  be  bears,  and  rejoiced 
already  in  our  good  fortune  which  would  provide  us  both  with 
food  for  the  dogs  and  fill  up  our  own  flesh-pots. 

The  big  white  animals  moved  slowly  towards  us  and  at  a 
distance  they  behaved  just  like  bears,  scenting  their  way  towards 
the  enemy.  Hardly  had  the  dogs  discovered  them  when  off 
they  flew,  all  weariness  forgotten  and  the  carnivorous  urgings, 
which  had  so  long  been  suppressed,  aroused  with  a  new  and 
unknown  force.  We  rushed  across  the  ice  at  a  speed  which  we 
had  not  found  possible  since  our  last  bear-hunts.  Unfortu- 
nately the  whole  thing  was  dissolved  in  deep  disappointment 
when  we  found  that  the  animals  were  two  wolves  which  had 
wandered  out  on  the  ice.  As  we  approached  them  they  ran  off 
in  the  direction  which  we  were  taking,  and  thus  it  happened 
that  the  rest  of  the  distance  to  our  depot  was  covered  at  a  full 
gallop. 

Our  excitement  was  of  course  great,  as  the  trail  showed  that 
the  wolves  had  just  come  from  the  depot  where,  beside  our 
clothes,  we  had  also  left  some  shoulders  of  musk-ox  meat  which 
were  to  save  our  dogs.  But  fortunately  the  unwelcome  guests 
had  been  too  cowardly  to  go  right  up  to  the  depot,  which  was 
quite  untouched,  though,  judging  from  the  tracks,  they  had 
been  slinking  about  for  the  better  part  of  the  day  tempted  by 
the  smell  of  meat. 

AT   DRAGON    POINT 

May  2ith-26th. — The  state  of  the  fjord  can  hardly  be  worse, 
and  yet  it  has  again  started  snowing !  The  tracks  which  we 
were  to  have  followed  to  Cape  May,  and  which  would  have 
cased  the  work  of  the  dogs,  are  quite  obliterated.  The  position 
is  not  encouraging.  At  our  arrival  here  last  night  we  fed  the 
dogs  with  the  last  of  the  musk-ox  meat,  and  we  ourselves  have 
H  113 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

very  short  rations  to  live  upon  if  we  are  not  to  attack  our  depot, 
so  far  sacred  as  a  reserve  for  the  return  journey. 

Koch  lay  down  immediately  after  our  arrival,  and  all 
through  the  day  he  has  had  high  fever,  which  has  further 
enfeebled  him.  He  is  in  a  bad  way,  though  some  improvement 
is  noticed  towards  evening  after  a  good  sound  sleep.  However 
much  we  wish  to  get  away  from  this  place,  which  offers  no 
possibilities  for  existence,  I  dare  not  continue  with  Koch  in  his 
present  state.  We  must  therefore  kill  more  dogs  and  calmly 
wait  for  better  times.  The  snow  sings  softly  but  uncannily  on 
the  canvas  ;  it  falls  in  fine,  close  flakes  which  for  every  hour  that 
goes  make  travelling  conditions  worse.  But  the  mood  conse- 
quent on  these  happenings,  when  everything  seems  to  go  con- 
trary to  our  wishes,  finds  a  natural  outlet  in  a  little  verse  of 
Sophus  Clausen  : 

For  such  is  life  up  and  down, 
And  such  is  life  out  and  in, 
And  he  who  nothing  better  knows 
Must  take  his  lot  with  an  open  mind. 

The  following  day  we  have  to  lie  up  again  ;  the  weather  clears 
up  beautifully,  but  although  we  make  repeated  excursions 
inland  we  find  no  game.  Neither  does  any  seal  crawl  up  on  the 
ice,  so  to-day  we  have  to  shoot  three  dogs — three  poor,  lean 
dogs. 

With  a  heavy  heart  I  have  to  shoot  old  Miteq — "  the  Eider- 
duck  " — the  oldest  one  in  my  team ;  a  patient  and  industrious 
animal  which  dragged  until  it  tottered  with  exhaustion  between 
the  traces.  It  was  probably  the  most  faithful  one  in  the  team, 
therefore  the  most  worn-out  and  the  one  which,  with  its  skinny 
carcase,  must  serve  to  satiate  its  comrades. 

Poor  Eiderduck ! 

I  would  fain  have  given  it  a  safe  return  and  an  old  age  free 
of  cares.  Through  Hall  Basin  and  the  destructive  pressure-ice 
of  Robeson  Channel,  across  the  heavily  gravelled  ice-foot 
between  Cape  Brevoort  and  Cape  Bryan,  and  at  last  through 
the  bottomless  snow  of  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord,  it  has  worked 
patiently  and  steadily.  It  reached  Nares  Land  and  ate  as  much 
114 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

as  it  could  manage  of  delicious  musk-ox  meat.  But  then  it  had 
to  turn  hack  once  more  through  the  trackless  country.  It  was 
a  mute  but  willing  worker  in  the  service  of  exploration.  Always 
industrious,  it  dragged  to  and  fro  with  its  stumpy  tail  straight 
up  in  the  air ;  but  just  as  I  was  ready  to  set  across  to  our  meat 
store,  illness  claimed  it — a  sacrifice  for  the  benefit  of  its  mates. 
Therefore  let  the  old  dog  take  these  memorial  words  with 
it  in  its  painless  death.  A  Winchester  bullet  pierced  its  temple. 
I  have  just  flayed  it,  and  yet,  whilst  I  am  scribbling  this  in  my 
diary,  the  strong,  sickening  smell  of  its  blood  clings  to  my 
fingers. 

As  shortly  afterwards  I  go  out  to  feed  the  dogs,  I  find  that 
old  Miteq  had  no  significance  at  all  as  food  ;  there  was  no  flesh 
on  it — it  consisted  of  skin  and  bones  only.  We  therefore  had 
to  kill  another  two  dogs — altogether  five  carcases — to  feed  the 
rest ;  for  on  all  the  slaughtered  animals  there  was  scarcely  any 
nourishment. 

It  is  a  disgusting  work,  fit  only  for  an  executioner's  assistant, 
to  flense  these  animals,  and  that  not  least  because  they  were 
good  dogs  which  should  have  worked  for  us  yet  awhile  if  only 
we  had  been  able  to  get  on  quicker  to  better  hunting-grounds. 

On  the  evening  of  the  26th,  Koch's  condition  seems  so  much 
better  that  we  dare  to  cross  the  fjord.  We  make  ready  to 
break  camp,  and  a  new  report  is  deposited  in  Beaumont's  beacon. 

We  have  to  give  up  the  idea  of  letting  Koch  drive  his  own 
sledge,  as  I  fear  he  has  not  the  strength  to  do  this ;  it  is  hard 
and  laborious  work  to  drive  the  dogs  forward,  and  the  cannibal 
food  which  we  offer  them  agrees  so  badly  with  them  that  they 
often  vomit.  Ajako  and  I  therefore  share  the  rest  of  Koch's 
team  between  us. 

The  dogs  are  so  exhausted  that  we  can  hardly  hope  to  be  able 
to  ride  on  the  sledges,  wherefore  Koch  sets  out  a  few  hours 
before  the  rest  so  as  to  get  somewhat  ahead  of  us.  When  later 
on  Ajako  and  I  set  off  with  our  melancholy  animals,  we  leave 
this  headland,  which  now  stinks  with  the  gnawed  bones  of  dogs, 
with  a  sigh  of  relief. 

115 


GREENLAND    BY   THE    POLAR    SEA 

WHITE   WHITSUN 

May  27th.- — Slowly,  slowly,  we  struggle  ahead  2  kilometres 
to  the  hour,  the  dogs,  with  hanging  tails,  ready  to  drop  when- 
ever a  slight  ridge  hampers  the  sledge. 

For  the  first  four  hours  we  crawl  along  through  a  clammy 
fog  surrounded  by  greyish-white  thickness  on  all  sides  ;  nothing 
to  see,  nothing  to  steer  by,  like  blind  men  we  struggle  along  in 
the  white  gap,  and  the  monotony  makes  our  advance  still  more 
miserable. 

Suddenly  the  sun  appears  as  a  huge  white  ball  through  the 
fog ;  in  the  zenith  the  sky  bursts  forth,  breaking  through  the 
clouds  like  blue  unfolding  flowers ;  and  now  the  sun  follows  up 
its  victory,  whilst  the  edges  of  the  clouds  begin  to  glow,  and 
soon  the  close  blanket  of  fog  trembles  under  the  beams  of  the 
great  heater. 

The  white  tops  of  the  country  round  Cape  May  break 
through  ahead,  first  the  cone-shaped  Fusjijama  (Mount 
Hooker)  and  then  the  rest  of  Beaumont's  Mountains,  Mounts 
Coppinger  and  Farragut,  still  paddling  with  their  feet  in  the 
fog  ;  soon  the  ice  bursts  into  transparent  silver  ribbons,  hovering 
like  narrow  wisps  of  smoke  over  the  lands,  promising  good 
weather. 

And  so  the  most  glorious  Whitsun  weather  drove  in  to 
Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  with  clear  sky  and  calm  warmth. 

At  five  o'clock  we  had  to  stop,  as  the  dogs  could  endure  no 
more ;  we  made  camp,  hoisted  our  flag,  and  commenced  our 
day  of  rest.  A  festive  Whitsun,  with  a  solemn  mood  which 
the  mountains  and  the  white  snow  communicated  to  our 
minds.   .   .   . 

It  is  10  degrees  of  frost  (Cent.),  but  the  feeling  is  that  of  a 
hot  August  day  in  Denmark,  and  with  the  warmth  in  our  hearts 
which  all  this  grand  beauty  generates  we  celebrate  Whitsun 
according  to  our  poor  means. 

We  make  tea,  and  drink  it  whilst  we  suck  fruit-drops,  and 
with  the  taste  of  red  currants  and  cherries  on  our  lips  our 
thoughts  involuntarily  turn  to  home — the  long,  long  way, 
116 


:  *y 


DR.    THORILD    WULFF,    TAKEN    AT    THE    TIME    WE    LEFT    ETAH 


A    GENERAL    COUNCIL 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

almost  across  the  whole  globe,  to  the  vicarages  in  Sealand,  which 
in  this  moment  lie  like  islands  among  the  trees'  green  drifts  and 
flowering  fruit-trees.  We  sense  the  fragrance  of  flowers,  we 
hear  the  songs  of  larks  and  nightingales,  the  contented  lowing 
of  cows  in  the  meadows,  and  the  happy  laughter  of  merry 
people  celebrating  Whitsun  in  the  shady  beech  forests. 

And  we  sit  here  in  an  ocean  of  light  which  blinds  our  eyes, 
in  the  midst  of  the  winter-white  Arctic  spring,  with  pure  new 
snow  round  our  feet,  the  sun-gilded  horizon  of  the  glaciers 
behind  the  russet  mountains,  and  the  cold,  bound  Polar  Sea 
before  us  lonely,  wandering  explorers,  with  a  whole  world 
between  us  and  our  relatives  and  friends. 

Yet  we  celebrate  the  day,  and  with  a  longing  for  the  fertile 
south  which  has  so  often  given  nourishment  to  our  thoughts  up 
here  on  the  skull  of  the  world,  we  eat,  materialistic  as  always, 
a  tin  of  Mauna  Loa,  the  only  one  we  possess,  tinned  at  Hawaii 
and  exported  from  Honolulu  ;  and  as  we  see  before  us  the  dark- 
eyed,  garlanded  girls  who  picked  the  fruits,  it  is  as  if  we  cut 
through  all  horizons  and  conquer  the  world. 

Hawaii  and  the  Polar  Sea,  N.  Lat.  82°  ! 

So  we  cook  the  musk-ox  meat  from  Nares  Land,  drink 
coffee  from  Java  after  the  tea  from  the  Congo,  and  smoke 
tobacco  from  Brazil ! 

A  glorious  Whitsun ! 

TO   CAPE   WOHLGEMUTH 

In  spite  of  our  efforts,  we  do  not  succeed  in  covering  those 
poor  55  kilometres  from  Dragon  Point  to  Depot  Island  in  less 
than  two  days.  We  have  had  to  drive  slowly  out  of  considera- 
tion for  the  sick  Koch,  who  is  as  yet  so  poorly  that  he  cannot 
manage  long  stretches  in  one  run.  It  seems  he  cannot  stand 
the  complete  diet  of  meat  to  which  we  up  here  are  confined ; 
during  the  marches  weariness  and  sudden  dizziness  overwhelm 
him  so  that  he  has  to  lie  down  to  prevent  himself  from  falling. 
Fortunately,  he  takes  his  illness  calmly,  and,  thanks  to  his 
young,  strong  constitution,  he  resists  it  so  stubbornly  that  we 
are  not  verv  much  hampered.     He  refuses  all  offers  of  a  halt 

117 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

near  McMillan  Valley,  and,  as  he  himself  is  of  the  opinion  that 
he  is  strong  enough  to  continue,  we  take  the  shortest  possible 
rest,  as  hunting  conditions  force  us  ahead  as  quickly  as  possible. 

The  hunting  here  has  been  successful  beyond  all  expecta- 
tions, but  we  must  be  careful  lest  the  good  result  mislead  us. 
For,  after  all,  the  ice-free  country  is  only  small  in  extent,  so 
that  only  a  limited  number  of  big  game  will  be  found  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood,  and  the  point  is  not  to  exhaust  the 
district  entirely.  In  all  probability  we  shall  return  at  some 
time,  and  we  would  have  to  pay  dearly  later  on  if  on  our  outward 
journey  we  let  things  slide  and  did  not  offer  a  thought  as  to 
future  emergencies. 

Just  behind  Cape  May  we  see  six  hares ;  two  of  them  we 
shoot,  whilst  a  cup  of  strong  tea  is  made  to  give  us  strength  for 
the  last  stage  of  the  journey  towards  the  little  island  where  we 
have  deposited  two  rations  of  musk-ox  meat  for  every  team. 

There  seem  to  be  many  hares  here,  but  we  dare  not  depend 
to  any  great  degree  on  this  game.  The  animal  is  too  small  and 
also  too  bony,  and  it  does  not  go  sufficiently  far  as  provisions  on 
a  journey  on  the  inland-ice. 

The  dogs  scent  our  meat  depot  far  away  and  we  finish  the 
journey  at  a  merry  trot,  which  is  quite  stimulating  although 
one  knows  that  the  cause  of  the  speed  is  an  artificial  one.  For 
a  moment  we  are  seized  by  a  nervousness  easily  understood 
when  we  discover  that  tracks  of  foxes  lead  to  the  depot.  For- 
tunately, Reynard  has  been  too  careful,  or  perhaps  not  hungry 
enough,  to  attack  the  meat,  which  we  find  quite  untouched. 
We  can  now  finish  our  journey  with  a  really  solid  meal  which 
is  as  well  deserved  as  it  is  necessary. 

On  our  old  camping-ground  we  find  a  hare  swinging  at  the 
end  of  a  long  stick  which  has  been  rammed  down  in  the  snow. 
We  run  up  full  of  curiosity  to  see  if,  maybe,  other  precious 
things  are  hidden  in  a  tin  placed  on  the  same  spot,  and  in 
which  we  find  a  letter  from  Dr.  Wulff,  who  very  funnily  tells 
of  his  party's  experiences  during  the  time  we  had  been 
separated. 
118 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

On  the  following  day,  the  29th  of  May,  we  reach  Cape 
Wohlgemuth  through  the  same  heavy  snow  which  we  have 
hitherto  met  on  the  fjords ;  the  downfall  seems  to  be  sufficient 
here,  but  little  wind.  In  spite  of  the  trail  of  our  comrades, 
which  is  of  great  assistance  to  us,  it  takes  us  eleven  hours 
to  cover  the  distance  of  29  kilometres.  Here  by  Cape 
Wohlgemuth  we  celebrate  this  high-spirited  name  by  giving 
our  dogs  the  last  meat  we  possess.  During  a  short  ski  excur- 
sion we  find  on  a  ski-staff  another  letter  from  Wulff  with  the 
information  that  on  this  spot  they  have  shot  a  musk-ox. 

Next  day  at  noon  we  reach  our  comrades,  who  receive  us 
with  storming  shouts  of  welcome.  They  have  again  shot  six 
musk-oxen,  a  heaven-sent  gift  for  our  hungry  dogs. 

Yesterday  Harrigan  tried  to  hunt  in  Nordenskjold  Fjord, 
but  returned  quickly,  as  he  saw  at  once  that  the  country  was 
no  good  hunting-ground.  He  found  everywhere  tall,  vertical 
mountain-walls ;  the  few  cloughs  which  ran  across  the  great 
compact  chains  of  mountains  were  stony  deserts  without  vege- 
tation. He  did  not  go  far  inland,  and  we,  who  wish  to  keep 
as  long  as  possible  to  the  tracts  marked  on  the  old  charts,  are 
hoping  that  the  fjord  may  be  so  deep  that  at  its  head  we  may 
find  land  and  game. 

However,  one  matter  must  be  decided  on  at  once.  Accord- 
ing to  our  original  plan,  a  permanent  headquarters  was  to  be 
made  by  the  head  of  Nordenskjold  Fjord,  where  the  botanist 
of  the  expedition  during  our  wandering  life  was  to  make  his 
observations  in  peace.  Hendrik  Olsen,  Harrigan,  and  Bosun 
were  to  remain  with  Wulff,  and  were  to  hunt  in  preparation 
for  our  journey  homewards ;  while  Koch,  Ajako,  and  I  were 
to  cross  over  to  the  land  of  the  big  game  and  Nyeboes  Glacier, 
and  then  via  Independence  Fjord  go  north  of  Peary  Land,  call- 
ing at  Mylius-Erichsen's  beacon  on  Cape  Glacier,  at  Koch's 
beacon  near  Cape  Bridgeman,  and  at  Peary's  beacon  near  Cape 
Morris  Jesup.  After  the  lapse  of  a  good  one  and  a  half 
months  the  members  of  the  expedition  were  to  meet  again  off 
Nordenskjold  Fjord  to  start  the  return  journey  together. 

But  after  Inukitsoq's  sledge  journey  in  the  fjord  the  plan 

119 


GREENLAND    BY   THE    POLAR    SEA 

of  the  botanic  stations  has  to  be  given  up,  and  we  decide  to 
divide  the  expedition  into  two  parties,  with  the  following 
tasks  : 

One  hunting-party  must  immediately  go  northward  to  de 
Long  Fjord  to  hunt  for  musk-oxen  in  the  district  northward 
up  to  Cape  Morris  Jesup.  Dr.  Wulff  accompanies  this  party 
so  that  he  may  see  as  much  as  possible  of  the  coast. 

But  Koch,  Ajako,  and  I  must  go  in  to  the  head  of  Norden- 
skjold  Fjord,  chart  this,  and  then  across  the  inland-ice  go 
towards  the  hunting  districts  round  Poppy  Valley,  then 
through  Independence  Fjord  north  of  Peary  Land. 

All  these  plans  were  discussed  in  the  best  of  spirits  whilst  our 
comrades  tried  to  tickle  the  palates  of  us,  the  last  ones  to  arrive, 
with  ever\r  possible  delicious  morsel  from  the  newly-killed 
animals.  The  subjects  of  our  conversation  seemed  to  be 
inexhaustible  after  our  twelve  days  of  separation,  and  as 
we  had  to  go  each  in  our  own  direction  on  the  following 
morning,  our  meeting  was  a  hearty  one  which  I  shall  always 
remember. 


IN   NORDENSKJOLD   FJORD— TIRED   DOGS,   NO   HUNTING 

Our  position  would  be  a  serious  one  if  hunting  should  fail 
hereafter,  and  we  had  yet  a  chance  to  run  away  from  the  fight 
and  return  home.  For  although  there  was  yet  the  possibility 
of  seal-hunting,  which  might  provide  us  later  on  with  meat, 
the  chances  in  the  midst  of  all  this  old  Polar-ice  were  so  uncer- 
tain that  we  could  not  be  sure  of  success.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  we  were  to  save  our  skins  by  going  southward  now,  our  work 
would  only  be  half  accomplished,  and  no  one  approved  of  this 
solution  of  the  problem.  When  we  left  we  all  knew  the  risks 
we  ran,  and  the  position  was  already  now  such  that  our  lives 
were  at  stake  in  the  accomplishment  of  our  task.  To  my  great 
joy  there  was  not  one  of  my  comrades,  neither  among  the 
scientists  nor  among  the  Eskimos,  who  for  one  single  instant 
doubted  what  we  had  to  do. 

Everyone  agreed  that  the  expedition  in  the  face  of  all  odds 
120 


NORDENSKJOLD  FJORD 

ought  to  continue,  and  not  one  would  give  in  until  we  had  kept 
the  promises  made  at  the  time  when  we  left  Denmark. 

Through  1  metre  of  deep  soft  snow  we  drove  slowly  in  the 
fjord,  whilst  our  comrades  set  their  course  towards  Cape  Salor, 
where  they  expected  to  find  a  depot  from  Peary's  time. 

We  did  not  succeed  in  penetrating  the  fjord  more  than  17 
kilometres,  and  at  this  point,  early  in  the  morning,  we  camped 
off  a  broad  clough  which  cuts  into  the  country.  Here  Ajako 
tried  musk-ox  hunting.  For  eight  hours  he  tramped  across 
the  country,  but  all  he  saw  was  stones,  stones,  and  glaciers 
along  all  the  mountain-tops.  Not  a  trace  of  musk-ox  or 
hare  was  found,  not  even  ptarmigan  seemed  to  live  in  this 
desert. 

When  he  returned  with  his  discouraging  report,  the  fog 
settled  thickly  over  mountain  and  ice,  and  there  was  nothing 
else  for  it  but  to  settle  down  to  wait  and  wait,  with  short  rations 
for  ourselves  and  nothing  for  our  dogs.  On  the  ice  near  the 
tent  I  found  a  dead  lemming.  It  had  walked  across  the  deep 
snow  from  the  other  side  of  the  fjord.  The  energetic  and 
obstinate  little  animal  appeared  to  have  been  wandering  through 
the  fog,  as  occasionally  it  had  been  walking  in  a  circle,  and  had 
moved  along  in  an  uneven  zigzag  which  showed  plainly  that 
it  had  lost  its  bearings.  It  was  almost  incredible  that  this  small 
rodent,  which  is  no  larger  than  a  fair-sized  bunting,  had 
managed  to  make  its  way  through  the  deep  snow,  of  which  the 
upper  layer  was  so  soft  that  it  had  had  to  press  its  small  sinewy 
body  through  a  deep  and  assuredly  most  toilsome  furrow.  All 
its  paws  were  skinned,  and  so  torn  that  the  toes  were  frozen 
together  with  stiffened  blood.  The  snow  had,  presumably  in 
the  same  manner  as  it  happens  with  our  dogs,  stuck  to  the  hairs 
between  its  toes ;  then  it  had  made  an  effort  to  try  to  cleanse 
them  with  its  teeth,  so  that  it  had  torn  both  hair  and  skin  away. 
In  one  foot  it  had  a  deep  wound  which  it  must  have  inflicted  on 
itself,  and  the  consequent  loss  of  blood  must  have  occasioned 
its  death. 

The  Eskimos,   who  admire  the   unusual   qualities  of  the 

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GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

lemming,  its  courage,  its  endurance  and  stubbornness,  say  of  it 
that  it  possesses  the  chest  of  a  man,  the  beard  of  a  seal,  the  feet 
of  a  bear,  and  the  teeth  and  tail  of  a  hare — a  characterization 
of  its  appearance  which  is  very  striking. 

On  the  2nd  of  June  we  must  kill  another  four  dogs,  as 
we  are  continually  unable  to  find  food.  Ajako  and  Koch  now 
drive  a  team  of  ten  dogs  and  I  drive  one  of  seven  ;  and  although 
this  is  yet  a  fair  number,  we  need  to  be  careful  not  to  kill  many 
more  for  the  time  being.  For  if  we  are  to  drive  and  not  to  walk 
on  the  return  journey,  with  our  collections  and  the  food  for  our 
dogs,  we  ought  to  have  four  sledges  with  seven  dogs  in  each 
team.  The  six  musk-oxen  which  were  killed  by  the  mouth  of 
the  fjord  provided  only  three  meals  a  team  for  our  forty-four 
dogs.  We  therefore  decide  to  leave  two  rations  at  our  old 
camp,  so  that  we  shall  not  be  quite  without  dog  food  when  we 
return  later  on  to  cross  over  to  Chip  Inlet. 

In  spite  of  the  unfortunate  hazy  weather  which  we  have  had, 
we  have  succeeded  in  examining  Nordenskjold  Fjord,  for  a 
fresh  breeze  has  now  and  then  lifted  the  clouds  aside  and  given 
us  the  necessary  view.  The  nature  corresponds  on  the  whole  to 
what  we  observed  round  Victoria  Fjord.  The  surrounding 
land,  with  the  exception  of  the  quite  small  and  barren  brim 
along  the  shore,  is  covered  with  glaciers  ;  and  the  fjord,  which 
ends  in  broad  inland-ice,  but  behind  which  one  can  discern 
Nunataker,  is  hardly  more  than  20  kilometres  long.  The  extent 
depends  somewhat  upon  one's  decision  as  to  where  the  ocean- 
ice  proper  is  relieved  by  floating  inland-ice.  Five  or  six  kilo- 
metres inside  our  camp  a  big  bank  of  ice-mountains  shoots  right 
across  the  run,  so  that  the  passage  is  entirely  blocked.  As 
these  ice-mountains  to  a  height  of  from  3  to  6  metres  stand 
closely  by  the  main  glacier  itself — with  deep  snow  in  all  crevices 
and  apparently  being  moved  by  the  glacier  just  as  is  the  floating 
inland-ice  in  Victoria  Fjord — one  may  decide  that  the  real  fjord 
ends  here.  These  ice-mountains  make  the  passage  further 
ahead  impossible.  Thus  no  accession  to  the  inland-ice  is  possible 
from  this  point,  and  it  follows  as  a  matter  of  course  that  we 
must  give  up  every  thought  of  pushing  through  to  Inde- 
122 


NORDENSKJOLD  FJORD 

pendence  Fjord.  We  can  find  neither  the  road  nor  the  pro- 
vision for  this  purpose. 

As  soon  as  Chip  Inlet  has  been  explored,  we  must  speedily 
set  off  after  our  comrades  and  then,  later  on  when  de  Long 
Fjord  has  been  charted,  set  the  course  south  towards  the  seals 
by  Dragon  Point. 

Our  geographical  discoveries  have  been  very  interesting  up 
to  now,  and  it  is  already  obvious  that  the  relation  between 
inland-ice  and  coastland  should  be  marked  out  in  an  entirely 
different  way  for  that  part  of  Greenland  which  we  have  now 
traversed.  We  find  everything  is  glaciated  to  a  far  greater 
extent  than  we  expected,  and  although  of  course  it  is  the  task 
of  every  expedition  to  bring  home  as  much  new  information  as 
possible,  I  cannot  deny  that,  for  our  own  safety's  sake,  we 
might  have  wished  for  fewer  corrections  of  all  the  lovely  exten- 
sive hunting-land  which  has  up  to  the  present  been  marked 
down  on  all  the  American  maps. 

Again  to-day  we  see  a  lemming  attempting  to  cross  the 
fjord.  It  comes  from  the  clough  close  by  our  camp  and 
stubbornly  sets  its  course  where  the  crossing  is  at  its  broadest. 
In  comparison  to  its  size  it  shoots  ahead  with  dazing  speed, 
swimming  through  the  snow  with  queer  jumps.  Occasionally 
it  disappears  entirely  in  a  tunnel  to  shoot  up  further  ahead  like 
a  dwarf  seal  coming  up  to  breathe.  With  its  weeny  size  and  its 
phenomenal  energy,  it  seems  paradoxical  in  these  enormous 
surroundings  which  swallow  it  up. 

One  of  our  dogs  scents  it  and  rushes  up  so  violently  that  the 
traces  break.  In  the  same  instant  a  cloud  of  snow  whirls  up 
round  the  trail  of  the  little  wanderer  ;  for  a  few  seconds  yet  the 
lemming  fights  its  way  ahead,  then  suddenly  it  is  flung  high  up 
in  the  air  to  disappear  still  alive  into  the  mouth  of  the  dog. 


123 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  CAMP  BY  THE  OWL'S  NEST 

THE   FIRST   WANDERING   IN   PEARY   LAND 

JUNE  4th. — We  had  no  other  choice  but  to  get  away  from 
Nordenskjold  Fjord  as  quickly  as  possible.  A  hunting 
expedition  across  the  ground  where  Hendrik  and  Bosun 
had  shot  their  musk-oxen  gave  no  result ;  we  merely  made  the 
acquaintance  of  a  stone  desert  which  gave  no  promise  for  the 
filling  of  our  meat-pots,  and  close  behind  the  mountainous 
coast  lay  the  inland-ice.  As  the  weather  appeared  to  be  clear- 
ing up,  I  decided  to  go  in  along  Chip  Inlet.  The  fjord  had  to 
be  charted,  and  it  would  be  as  well  to  get  it  done  on  our  outward 
journey.  Also,  at  a  distance  the  land  looked  good  ;  the  moun- 
tains had  even  slopes  and  many  doughs  seemed  to  cut  into  the 
land  like  valleys.  We  therefore  set  off  in  spite  of  the  discourag- 
ing haze.  The  fog  lasted  obstinately  all  during  our  day's 
journey,  until  we  were  quite  near  to  land  ;  then  the  clear  sky 
slowly  began  to  break  through,  with  rich  promise  for  the  day 
from  which  we  now  expected  so  much.  In  the  forenoon  the 
sun  at  last  conquered  the  raw  thickness. 

A  cold,  snow-white,  mountainous  land  lay  before  us  in  full 
winter  dress,  but  brilliantly  beautiful  with  cone-shaped  moun- 
tains, big  cloughs,  and  sloping  foreland.  No  glacier  covered 
the  land ;  here  was  at  last  a  piece  of  Peary  Land  which 
seemed  to  promise  good  hunting. 

But  pushing  ahead  was  slow  work.  We  had  to  walk  the 
whole  way,  two  men  by  the  sledges  and  one  in  front,  and  thus 
twelve  hours  elapsed  before  we  had  covered  the  31  kilometres 
to  the  point  which  we  found  convenient  for  making  our  camp. 
124 


THE  CAMP  BY  THE  OWL'S  NEST 

We  cooked  a  panful  of  porridge  and  a  cup  of  tea,  whereafter 
Ajako  and  I  at  once  went  into  the  country  ;  out  of  considera- 
tion for  our  dogs  we  could  not  nurse  our  own  weariness.  On 
snowshoes  and  with  each  our  own  dog,  we  went  into  the 
mountains  along  the  sloping  fells. 

It  was  at  once  evident  that  wc  were  in  Peary  Land,  for  such 
fertile  oases  we  had  not  seen  before.  In  some  places  we  found 
thick,  lush  grass,  not  merely  the  miserable  meagre  tufts  to 
which  we  were  accustomed.  Everywhere  Polar  willow  grew 
abundantly,  and  poppies,  saxifrage,  and  cassiope,  but  every- 
thing is  yet  withered  with  winter.  Here  is  at  any  rate  plenty 
of  fuel,  if  only  we  can  find  something  to  cook.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  our  expedition  we  shot  a  couple  of  ptarmigan  and  gave 
them  to  the  hungry  dogs,  which  were  helping  us  on  our  hunt 
for  musk-ox . 

We  followed  the  slope  of  the  mountains  along  the  fjord  and 
soon  found  excrements  of  musk-ox,  but  all  very  old.  Probably 
the  snow  is  too  deep  this  time  of  the  year.  Ptarmigan  we  saw 
in  abundance,  but  decided  we  could  not  afford  to  spend  am- 
munition on  them. 

On  a  steep,  picturesque  brink  leading  down  towards  a 
clough  we  discovered  an  owl,  which  was  apparently  sitting  on 
its  eggs,  for  hardly  had  we  discovered  it  before  another  owl, 
which  we  had  not  seen  at  all  but  which  sat  not  far  from  the  first 
one,  began  to  detract  our  attention  from  the  nest.  First  it 
ran  along  a  big  snowdrift,  but  as  we  did  not  let  ourselves  be 
deluded,  it  flew  up  and  began  circling  above  us,  anxiously 
hooting  and  apparently  very  nervous  as  we  approached  its  mate. 
As  we  continued  our  walk  undisturbedly,  however,  it  became 
downright  impudent ;  high  up  from  the  air  it  would  throw 
itself  with  lightning  quickness  down  at  us,  rushing  at  our 
heads  with  such  tricky  violence  that  we  had  to  defend  ourselves 
with  the  butts  of  our  guns.  Then  it  shot  up  in  the  air  again, 
circling  for  awhile  above  us,  to  fall  down  once  more  right  on 
our  heads.  Its  manoeuvres  were  sudden,  silent,  and  incalcul- 
ably swift,  and  when  it  passed  right  in  front  of  us  its  strong 

125 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

beak  whizzed  past  our  eyes,  and  we  had  to  duck  to  protect  our 
faces  from  its  outstretched  claws. 

On  the  utmost  point  of  the  brink  we  found  a  primitive  nest 
containing  nine  white  eggs,  not  unlike  hen's  eggs  but  somewhat 
smaller  and  rounder.  The  nest,  which  was  very  simple,  con- 
sisted of  a  depression  of  the  soil  with  a  little  grass  at  the  bottom. 
We  left  them  in  peace,  to  the  great  surprise  of  the  male  owl, 
which  was  only  accustomed  to  fight  against  ermine  and  wolf, 
which  know  not  mercy. 

Some  distance  further  ahead  Ajako  shot  two  hares,  where- 
after we  parted  to  hunt  each  in  our  own  direction.  I  climbed 
the  mountains  to  obtain  a  view,  whilst  he  continued  right  ahead. 

The  mountain  I  ascend  is  a  slate-stone  mountain  40  metres 
high,  black  and  cone-shaped,  with  crumbling  stones  which  pro- 
vide a  poor  foothold.  When  at  last  I  reach  the  top  I  obtain  a 
view  which  nearly  takes  the  breath  away  from  me.  I  have  to 
rub  my  eyes  before  I  dare  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  that  which 
I  look  upon.  Before  my  feet,  in  along  the  fjord,  I  discover  a 
whirlpool  with  a  couple  of  floating  ice-mountains. 

An  arm  of  the  fjord,  only  2  kilometres  broad,  cuts  into  the 
country,  first  in  the  direction  of  north-west  towards  Mascart 
Inlet,  to  which  it  seems  to  send  an  arm,  later,  turning  north 
and  north-east  in  the  direction  of  de  Long  Fjord,  it  is  lost 
among  the  mountains,  where  I  cannot  see  its  head.  But  the 
circumstance  that  here,  in  the  middle  of  a  Sikussaq  fjord,  nearly 
at  N.  Lat.  83°,  we  came  across  an  opening  in  the  ice,  points 
to  the  probability  that  this  narrow  branch  must  be  part  of  a 
channel  which  either  runs  out  into  Mascart  Inlet,  or  probably 
into  Jewell  Inlet.  There  is  a  very  strong  current  in  the  open 
water.  From  the  high  ground  on  which  I  stand  I  can  plainly 
discern  vortices.  And  the  main  direction  runs  towards  Chip 
Inlet.  On  the  firm  edge  of  the  ice  I  discover  to  my  surprise 
and  joy  two  seals,  and  in  the  snow  the  depressions  of  a  third 
which  has  just  gone  down. 

This  surprising  discovery  opens  up  unsuspected  possibilities. 

The  land  itself  is  ice-free  in  all  directions — i.e.,  without  a 
connected  glacier  ;  merely  an  occasional  local  tongue  of  a  glacier 
126 


THE  CAMP  BY  THE  OWL'S  NEST 

shoots  from  the  summits  down  into  the  many  doughs  which 
intersect  the  mountain.  But  everywhere  one  sees  deep  snow. 
The  head  of  the  main  fjord  is  plainly  visible  about  30  or  40 
kilometres  inland  from  our  camp,  and  only  now  it  becomes 
clear  to  me  that  it  is  an  entirely  new  fjord  we  have  discovered. 
Chip  Inlet  was  not  very  long,  and  was  supposed  to  run  parallel 
with  Nordenskjold  Fjord,  but  this  fjord  does  not  exist  at  all. 
But  north  of  Nordenskjold  Fjord  a  large  new  fjord  cuts  east- 
ward for  about  50  kilometres  into  Peary  Land.  Near  its  head 
a  big  mountain  is  discerned  which  crosses  the  run  and  merges 
into  the  inland-ice.  Whilst  the  south-west  side  of  the  head  of 
the  fjord  is  thus  directly  connected  with  the  main  glacier,  large 
snow-covered  but  apparently  ice-free  stretches  of  land  spread 
out  in  the  direction  of  north-cast. 

When  Ajako  and  I  meet  again  our  faces  beam  with  joy  over 
the  great  discovery  we  have  made  ;  but  for  the  moment  we  are, 
of  course,  most  interested  in  the  opportunities  which  this  un- 
expected whirlpool  with  its  seals  offers  us.  Provided  the  ice 
near  the  edge  where  the  seals  lie  is  not  eaten  into  too  much  by 
the  current  underneath,  we  have  here  the  possibility  of  a  wel- 
come store  of  meat.  But  as  seal-hunting  brings  the  best  result 
during  the  warm  sunshine  of  noon,  we  postpone  for  the  time 
being  the  hunt,  taught  by  our  sad  experience  at  Dragon  Point, 
where  the  seals,  I  do  not  know  for  what  reason,  were  very  timid. 
So  we  return  to  our  camp,  with  no  other  catch  than  the  two 
hares. 

Of  fresh  musk-ox  tracks,  or  merely  of  year-old  excrements, 
we  saw  none ;  the  signs  of  life  we  ran  across  appeared  to  be 
several  years  old.  But  it  is  possible  that  musk-oxen  are  to  be 
found  still  further  in  along  the  fjord,  and  these  regions  are  to 
be  explored  as  soon  as  we  have  had  a  rest.  In  the  meantime 
we  have  been  in  incessant  activity  for  over  thirty  hours.  We 
ran  across  lemming  holes  everywhere,  and  also  ptarmigan, 
which  in  couples  celebrate  the  mating  season  with  a  lively 
cackling. 

By  midnight  we  are  once  more  back  in  the  tent.     Again 

127 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR    SEA 

two  poor  dogs  have  to  be  killed  to  provide  food  for  their  mates  ; 
they  give  a  poor  meal  with  scanty  nourishment,  but  nevertheless 
they  constitute  "some  belly-fill,"  to  keep  life  in  those  which 
have  to  push  on. 


WEATHER-BOUND   IN   A   SNOWSTORM 

I  have  not  been  in  the  mood  for  scribbling  in  my  diary,  and 
during  the  last  two  days  I  have  kept  exclusively  to  meteoro- 
logical observations,  which  four  times  during  night  and  day 
pleasantly  checks  our  time. 

The  weather  and  the  bad  state  of  the  ground  persecute  us 
systematically.  There  is  snow  in  abundance,  through  which 
we  must  toil  our  way ;  on  the  last  journey  we  found  snow  up 
to  1  metre  deep  and  had  to  put  skis  under  the  runners  of  the 
sledges.  The  loose  snow  which  freezes  into  balls  under  the 
paws  of  the  dogs  treats  them  much  worse  than  does  hunger ; 
in  their  attempts  to  cleanse  their  painful  paws,  which  may  be 
so  full  of  hard  ice  lumps  that  the  toes  become  quite  distended, 
they  bite,  like  the  little  lemming  I  recently  described,  big 
bleeding  wounds  in  their  paws  which  leave  a  trail  of  blood  in 
the  snow.  This  affliction  is  the  chief  reason  for  the  diffieulty 
we  have  in  driving  them  ahead,  and  it  quite  unnerves  them. 

And  now  travelling  conditions  are  to  be  still  worse  !  The 
snowstorm  begins  on  the  5th,  and  on  the  6th  it  rages  with  in- 
creased violence ;  and  the  snow  gathers  in  big,  deep  drifts 
where  the  sledges  will  stick  when  we  have  to  continue  our 
journey. 

There  is  nothing  for  it — we  must,  like  the  little  saxifrage 
which  sometimes  winters  in  full  bloom,  sleep  everything  away 
and  let  the  storm  pass  over  us  as  if  we  did  not  exist ;  later  on 
we  shall  have  time  enough  to  face  its  consequences. 

On  the  7th  of  June  the  storm  seems  still  on  the  increase  ; 
the  snow'  whips  against  the  canvas  of  our  tent,  the  squall 
threatens  to  tear  it  to  rags.  Our  ten  still  living  dogs  are  lying 
outside  in  the  snow,  and  they  seem  to  have  a  difficulty  in  recon- 
ciling themselves  to  all  this  adversity.  We  dare  not  kill  any 
128 


3 
E 
— 

- 

- 


THE  CAMP  BY  THE  OWL'S  NEST 

more,  or  we  shall  he  left  without  effective  teams.     Hunting 
in  this  storm  is  unthinkable. 


TENT  DUTY  WITH  SENTIMENTS  FROM  DENMARK 

At  last!  At  last  the  sun  had  mercy  on  us  and  appeared 
with  a  clear  blue  sky,  quite  early  in  the  morning.  About  two 
o'clock  we  dug  ourselves  out  from  the  tent  and  made  our  pre- 
parations for  the  hunt,  and  for  a  reconnoitring  expedition  which 
Koch  and  Ajako  were  to  undertake.  We  were  lying  deep  in 
big  snowdrifts,  so  that  only  the  ridge  of  our  tent  was  visible  ; 
it  was  like  mid-winter  and  nothing  around  us  bore  witness  to 
the  fact  that  we  were  already  far  into  June,  the  loveliest  and 
mildest  of  all  the  summer  months. 

Nothing  could  be  seen  of  our  sledges.  Only  the  points  of 
the  uprights  stuck  out,  and  of  the  dogs  merely  the  contours  of 
their  bodies  could  be  suspected  in  the  snow.  Their  quietness 
was  uncanny  and  showed,  unfortunately,  that  not  one  of  them 
had  spirit  enough  left  in  it  to  gnaw  at  the  traces,  or  to  go  out 
robbing  between  the  sledges  and  the  tent.  They  had  given  up 
entirely  and  were  now  trying  merely  to  keep  warm,  rolled  up 
in  a  ring  with  heads  buried  between  legs  and  tail. 

At  four  o'clock  Koch  and  Ajako  set  out.  I  had  to  remain 
keeping  watch  over  dogs  and  tent ;  the  latter  would  be  torn  to 
strips  if  under  these  conditions  the  dogs  were  left  without  con- 
trol for  a  day.  Fain  would  I  have  exchanged  yet  another  night 
and  day  of  inactivity  for  my  comrades'  lot ;  but  someone  must 
do  the  miserable  job. 

For  a  long  time  I  stood  in  the  drifting  snow  looking  after 
my  departing  friends.  Koch  was  to  chart  the  inner  reaches  of 
the  fjord,  whilst  Ajako  hunted  in  an  attempt  to  save  the  sad 
remainder  of  our  dogs. 

At  an  even  march  they  go  in  along  the  fjord,  where  stormy 
clouds  are  yet  drifting  round  the  thunder-split  peaks.  One  of 
them  is  on  skis,  and  slowly  they  glide  through  the  loose  new 
drifts.  Ajako,  the  undaunted  hunter  whose  straight  back  and 
lithe  movements  plainly  reveal  that  he  has  not  yet  given  up 
I  129 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

hope  of  finding  big  game,  is  in  appearance  not  unlike  the  wolf- 
dog  which  he  leads  at  the  end  of  a  trace.  Like  his  dog  he  is 
light,  with  tense  muscles,  hardy  and  used  to  starvation.  By  his 
side  goes  Koch — broad  of  shoulder,  strong  of  build,  tough,  and 
showing  the  consciousness  of  his  strength  in  the  swing  where- 
with he  walks,  like  a  young  Great  Dane. 

Good  hunt,  oh  wolves  !  Never  have  warmer  wishes  accom- 
panied two  wanderers ;  for  to-day  is  the  day !  The  great 
seriousness  is  over  us  and  our  fate. 

Whilst  I  stand  here  weighing  our  chances,  with  the  raw 
blast  in  my  face,  my  thoughts  go  out  to  the  other  party  which 
has  endured  the  same  weather  as  we.  May  they  have  had  more 
success  on  their  hunting  before  the  storm  overtook  them  and 
put  its  seal  on  the  land. 

Opposite  to  me  a  couple  of  ptarmigan  are  sitting  cooing 
caressingly  to  each  other.  Their  coat  is  quite  brown,  and  they 
sing  about  the  summer  that  should  have  been.  Their  cheerful 
presence  is  stimulating  and  makes  one  forget  the  uncanniness 
of  the  storm-rushing  clouds. 

Occasionally  they  look  enquiringly  at  the  tent  and  the  man 
at  its  entrance ;  but  there  is  no  cause  for  their  anxiety — they 
may  safely  coo  for  me  all  through  my  lonely  day.  I  cannot 
afford  to  spend  a  ball  on  so  little  meat,  and  our  shot-gun  and 
its  ammunition  was  deposited  for  the  return  journey  by  the 
mouth  of  Nordenskjold  Fjord. 

My  day  will  to-day  be  stamped  by  excitement,  but  it  is 
excitement  of  the  kind  which  one  should  not  feel  too  frequently 
during  an  expedition. 

For  the  first  time  during  a  long  period  there  is  a  positive 
temperature,  1-2  degrees  of  warmth  (Cent.).  There  is  a  dead 
calm  and  hardly  a  cloud  in  the  sky.  Whilst  I  wait  in  the  mild 
weather  I  am  tempted  to  kill  time  by  writing. 

It  is  now  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  thus  it  is  fifteen  hours 
since  my  comrades  left.     They  were  to  return  immediately  if 
they  caught  a  seal  by  the  whirlpool  on  their  outward  journey, 
and  their  absence  is  therefore  not  a  favourable  sign. 
130 


THE  CAMP  BY  THE  OWL'S  NEST 

I  feel  as  if  I  were  on  a  redoubt,  alone  against  fifteen. 

The  dogs  are  raging  with  hunger ;  nearly  all  of  them  have 
bitten  themselves  loose  from  harness  and  traces,  and  are  re- 
peatedly attacking  the  tent,  where  a  small  piece  of  boiled  meat 
is  still  kept.  It  would  have  been  an  uneven  fight,  had  not 
experience  given  them  a  respect  for  the  whip  which  they  know 
that  their  beloved  master  has  always  ready  to  hand.  They 
have  suffered  through  the  snowstorm,  but  this  would  not  have 
meant  much  for  a  wolf-dog  if  recently  they  had  not  so  often 
been  given  flabby  dog-flesh  instead  of  real  food.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  they  are  now  so  desperate  and  threatening,  and  they 
would  surely  throw  themselves  over  me  if  only  they  dared. 
They  express  their  suffering  in  very  different  ways.  The  nobler 
natures  amongst  them  are  no  longer  greedy  and  offensive ; 
their  eyes  have  taken  on  a  singular  forsaken  and  melancholy 
expression  ;  they  keep  away  and  seek  the  snow-bare  patches  of 
ground,  where  they  try  to  let  the  warmth  of  the  sun  ease  the 
pains  of  their  empty  stomachs.  The  plebeians  amongst  them, 
on  the  contrary,  have  got  an  evil  expression  in  their  eyes  ;  they 
lay  siege  to  the  tent  and  approach  the  entrance  whenever  they 
think  they  can  take  me  by  surprise. 

Poor  animals !  But  what  else  can  we  do  for  them  but  to 
walk  ourselves  half  to  death  into  the  country  on  hunting  tours 
which  last  for  days.     We  really  do  not  save  ourselves  ! 

The  day  goes  slowly,  and  I  often  seize  myself  in  the  belief 
that  my  watch  has  stopped.  In  vain  the  ptarmigan  try  to 
cackle  some  relief  into  the  monotony. 

A  couple  are  cackling  to  each  other  warmly  and  tenderly  of 
the  nest  which  they  are  going  to  build.  Their  gurgling  gut- 
turals remind  me  of  a  bull-frog's  croaking  in  the  ponds  of 
Sealand.  I  forget  where  I  am,  and  my  thoughts  go  back  to 
the  garden  of  my  father's  vicarage,  where  so  often  I  have 
listened  to  these  remarkable  frogs,  whose  clear,  bell-like  tones 
from  the  deep  mud  of  the  pond  could  fill  the  air  with  harmony 
in  the  cool  Danish  summer  evenings. 

A  mild  breeze  wafts  the  fragrance  of  the  wild  roses  of  the 
cemetery  wall  towards  me,  and  many  old  memories  revive,  so 

131 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR    SEA 

that  in  the  midst  of  ice  I  live  over  again  that  which  once  was. 
I  see  my  dear  old  mother  coming  from  the  strawberry-beds,  her 
apron  filled  with  big  red  berries  ;  as  usual,  she  picks  out  the 
biggest  and  gives  them  to  us,  and  it  is  as  if  the  flavour  is  doubly 
sweet  and  precious  when  one  knows  that  every  one  of  them  has 
cost  her  pains  in  her  old  back  as  she  bent  down  to  pick  them. 
And  I  hear  my  father's  firm,  somewhat  heavy  tread  between 
the  trees  of  the  garden.  He  takes  his  evening  walk,  stopping 
frequently  in  front  of  the  fruit-bushes,  the  growth  and  thriving 
of  which  he  follows  from  day  to  day  in  his  dear  garden.  Now 
and  then  there  is  a  sound  of  the  balls  from  the  croquet-ground. 
The  cool  evening  breeze  sighs  round  the  great  lime-trees,  while 
the  white  fruit-blossoms  float  down  on  to  the  garden  paths. 

During  the  heat  of  noon  the  first  winged  sign  of  summer 
comes  to  me  as  a  couple  of  bluebottles  buzzingly  break  into  the 
tent  and  circle  round  that  innocent  little  piece  of  meat  which  so 
vigilantly  I  watch  over.  Three  curious  gulls  sail  across  our 
camp  on  pointed  wings,  to  disappear  towards  the  whirlpool ; 
and  when  I  add  that  a  couple  of  small  buntings  have  also  tried 
to  keep  me  company  during  the  day,  I  have  finished  my  day's 
biology. 

In  the  quiet,  mild  weather  the  sun  quickly  melts  the  snow. 

At  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening  Koch  returns  to  the  tent 
after  his  twenty-five  hours'  walk.  No  game  has  he  seen.  His 
discoveries  fully  confirm  my  observations  of  the  other  day  from 
the  black  slate-stone  mountain.  We  are  in  quite  a  new  fjord 
which  has  nothing  to  do  with  Chip  Inlet,  and  which  has  not 
been  visible  from  the  route  which  has  previously  been  followed. 
We  agreed  to  call  this  fjord  LP.  Koch  Fjord.  Neither  is  to 
be  found  the  great  island,  marked  down  inside  the  mouth  of 
Chip  Inlet ;  in  its  place  we  have  a  tall  mountainous  peninsula 
which,  with  no  less  than  sixteen  glaciers,  shoots  out  between 
Nordenskjold  Fjord  and  I.  P.  Koch  Fjord.  The  land  north 
of  the  fjord  and  to  the  east  is  partly  ice-free,  but  it  consists  of 
wild  alpine  landscapes  where  one  cannot  hope  to  find  musk-oxen. 

Ajako  has  gone  further  into  the  fjord,  and  at  nine  o'clock  in 
132 


THE  CAMP  BY  THE  OWL'S  NEST 

the  morning  he  has  not  yet  returned.     But  as  long  as  he  re- 
mains absent  we  keep  on  hoping. 

Heigh !  !  ! 

At  nine  o'clock  on  the  9th,  after  thirty  hours'  hunting, 
Ajako  returns  to  the  tent ;  he  has  shot  two  seals  by  the  whirl- 
pool, and  three  hares.  The  hares  he  carries  on  his  back,  but 
the  seals  he  has  left,  as  it  will  be  more  practicable  to  move  our 
camp  nearer  towards  the  whirlpool. 

Our  joy  over  this  report  is  so  intense  that  we  feel  as  if  warm 
waves  beat  through  our  bodies,  and  we  cannot  prevent  ourselves 
from  shouting  meaningless  words.  There  is  now  a  hope  that, 
at  any  rate  for  the  time  being,  we  can  keep  part  of  the  dogs 
alive  ;  and  it  is  not  unthinkable  that  we  may  succeed  in  shooting 
still  more  seals.  Ajako  has  been  far  in  along  the  fjord,  where 
he  has  found  some  old  excrement  of  musk-oxen ;  but  every- 
thing points  to  the  probability  that  these  animals  many  years 
ago  left  this  district,  which  they  have  probably  passed  on  their 
way  eastward.  Furthermore,  he  has  seen  an  owl  brooding, 
and  a  white  fox  eagerly  hunting  fat  lemmings. 

The  beautiful  weather  has  tempted  a  lot  of  Arctic  gulls 
towards  our  little  camp — they  sail  above  our  heads  or  sit  on  the 
hummocks  along  the  mountain  slopes,  from  which  places  they 
hail  the  returned  hunter  with  shrill,  merry  cries. 


GOOD  DAYS  BY  THE  WHIRLPOOL 

The  camp  is  now  moved  a  few  kilometres  further  in  along 
the  fjord,  so  that  from  our  tent  we  may  have  a  convenient  view 
of  the  little  whirlpool  which  temporarily  will  be  our  larder. 

June  10th-13t]i. — I  nfortunately  both  Koch  and  Ajako  are 
taken  ill  again.  Koch  has  nausea  and  has  felt  dizzy  after  the 
long  walk  of  yesterday.  His  stomach  will  not  stand  the  ever- 
lasting diet  of  meat  which  we  have  to  live  on  ;  occasionally  he 
is  given  a  little  oat-porridge,  but  as  we  have  to  economize 
strictly  under  the  uncertain  conditions  life  offers  us,  it  is  unfor- 

133 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

tunately  impossible  to  let  him  have  the  daily  ration  which  his 
constitution  seems  to  claim. 

Ajako  has  overstrained  his  eyes  in  the  sharp  light  during  the 
longTmnt,  and  has  again  gone  snow-blind.  So,  as  soon  as  the 
tent  is  raised,  I  leave  my  comrades  and  drive  to  the  pool  to 
fetch  Ajako's  seals.  It  is  beautiful  and  quiet  weather,  and  the 
warmth  has  again  tempted  a  couple  of  seals  to  take  a  sun-bath. 
One  of  them  is,  unfortunately,  very  shy  and  dives  down  long 
before  I  get  within  range  ;  but  I  succeed  in  catching  the  other. 
We  are  now  on  top  again,  for  as  we  have  so  few  dogs  left,  these 
seals,  with  their  profusion  of  blubber,  will  see  us  through  for 
some  time. 

Our  cup  of  joy  is,  as  usual,  not  unmixed  with  bitterness,  as 
it  appears  that  some  serious  illness  is  breaking  out  among  the 
dogs.  The  hind  quarters  of  some  of  them  are  becoming 
paralyzed.  This  may  be  a  consequence  of  the  cannibalist  diet 
with  which  they  have  too  often  to  be  satisfied.  Dog-flesh 
seems  to  contain  some  poison ;  at  any  rate,  the  liver  and 
intestines  contain  something  which  does  not  agree  with  the 
dogs,  for  after  devouring  it  they  frequently  vomit,  and  during 
the  day  they  are  limp  and  weak  and  have  pronounced  diarrhoea. 
Two  of  them  have  already  been  killed,  as  we  cannot  hope  for 
a  speedy  recovery. 

Yet  another  matter  is  troubling  us  :  We  have  great  diffi- 
culty in  making  the  dogs  eat  sufficient  food.  The  blubber, 
which  is  so  good  for  them  and  at  which  in  the  beginning  they 
rushed  with  such  greediness,  they  will  not  touch  at  alb  now. 
This,  however,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  disease,  but  is  well- 
known  by  everybody  who  on  long  journeys  has  had  to  starve  his 
dogs  for  periods.  When  at  last  one  arrives  at  a  place  where 
there  is  food  in  plenty,  the  dogs  eat  only  a  few  good  meals,  and 
after  that  they  turn  so  finicky  that  they  will  only  accept 
solid  meat. 

On  the  11th  of  June  Koch  feels  somewhat  better,  and  im- 
mediately goes  out  into  I.  P.  Koch  Fjord  to  complete  the 
cartographical  work  which  he  began. 

On  the  following  day  he  is  again  tired  and  unwell,  and  as 
134 


THE  CAMP  BY  THE  OWL'S  NEST 

Ajako  constantly  suffers  from  pains  in  his  eyes  we  decide  to 
remain  here  for  another  few  days,  although  it  is  desirable  that 
we  should  catch  up  with  our  comrades  as  soon  as  possible. 

After  this  numerous  seal-hunts  miscarry  ;  the  few  animals 
that  have  their  home  by  the  whirlpool  are  so  shy  that  they 
disappear  as  soon  as  we  show  ourselves.  So  in  the  forenoon  of 
the  14th  we  agree  to  break  camp  and  continue  our  interrupted 
journey. 

During  the  night  we  are  aroused  by  barnacle-geese,  which 
two  by  two  fly  across  the  tent  in  flocks,  to  settle  down  on  the 
grassy  slopes.  For  a  long  time  their  cries  vibrate  with  a  fresh, 
promising  sound.  There  is  always  adventure  in  the  boom  of 
a  wild-goose  flight,  when  on  their  broad  wings  they  disappear 
beyond  the  horizon. 

TO  CAPE  SALOR 

June  lith-loth. — We  had  long  been  looking  forward  to 
the  day  when  our  work  here  should  be  finished,  so  that  with  a 
good  conscience  we  could  set  our  course  towards  Cape  Salor  on 
the  northern  extremity  of  the  great  island  off  the  mouth  of 
Chip  Inlet.  McMillan  had  promised  us  that  we  should  there 
find  one  of  Peary's  depots  from  his  last  Polar  expedition,  cached 
in  1908,  and  consisting  of  pemmican,  biscuits,  sugar,  and  paraf- 
fin.    These  were  tempting  delicacies. 

We  start  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  and,  as  for  the 
first  time  during  a  long  period  going  is  good,  we  succeed  in 
making  the  40  kilometres  to  Cape  Salor  in  twelve  hours.  We 
halt  east  of  the  cape,  right  opposite  to  Cape  Emory,  where  we 
expect  to  pick  up  information  from  WulfF.  It  is  baking  hot, 
the  temperature  being  the  highest  we  have  yet  experienced. 
In  2  degrees  of  heat  (Cent.)  we  half-strip,  after  which  Ajako 
and  I  set  out  for  the  depot,  which  should  be  about  4  kilometres 
distant  from  our  camp. 

The  sun  scorches  our  faces.  On  the  ice  the  snow  is  melting 
and  has  already  formed  pools  of  more  than  a  metre  depth  in  the 
old  Polar-ice.  Dripping  with  perspiration  we  reach  the  depot, 
where  a  tin  box,  hanging  down  from  the  end  of  a  staff,  contains 

185 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR    SEA 

a  greeting  from  our  comrades.  Right  off  us  there  is  a  pressure- 
ridge  of  about  20  metres ;  outside  this  the  ice  is  smooth, 
whilst  the  pressure-ice  of  the  old  Polar-ice  commences  already 
a  few  kilometres  seaward.  Along  the  ice-foot  there  is  an  old 
track  of  bear. 

The  depot  proves  a  disappointment  in  so  far  as  we  find  only 
three  cans  of  paraffin  and  six  tins  of  pemmican. 

To  our  surprise,  we  find  excrements  of  musk-ox  also  on  this 
island,  which  almost  entirely  consists  of  high,  rugged  mountain- 
land  without  a  trace  of  valley  tracts.  The  musk-oxen,  then, 
must  have  been  here  only  temporarily.  Three  barnacle-geese 
come  flying  from  far  out  on  the  Polar  Sea,  and  on  land  the 
ptarmigan  are  cackling. 

We  are  back  again  in  the  tent  at  eleven  o'clock,  gourman- 
dizing  to  our  hearts'  content  on  Peary's  pemmican.  This 
Polar  pemmican,  in  contrast  to  the  sort  with  which  we  are 
acquainted,  has  a  wonderful  addition  of  lots  of  raisins  and  sugar 
kneaded  into  the  meat  and  fat,  so  that  it  has  the  consistency 
almost  of  a  sweetmeat ;  at  any  rate,  no  marzipan  cake  could 
have  tasted  better.  For  the  sake  of  economy,  we  mix  it  with 
porridge,  and  boil  it  into  a  thick  gruel,  which  settles  down  in 
our  stomachs  with  an  unusual,  but  not  uncomfortable,  heaviness. 

Wulff  's  letter,  which  is  as  usual  a  welcome  sign  of  life  in  our 
monotonous  treadmill  round,  goes  from  hand  to  hand  and  gives 
rise  to  much  discussion  and  conjecture.  We  then  snuggle 
down  in  our  sleeping-bags,  relishing  for  the  first  time  outside 
our  tent  the  unusual  summer  warmth.  We  close  our  eyes  after 
a  journey  of  thirty-six  hours. 

But  our  food  has  been  heavier  than  our  customary  meals  of 
hare  ;  our  sleep  is  restless  and  we  frequently  wake  up. 


136 


CHAPTER  VII 
CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCKWOOD'S  REACON 

OUR  MEETING  WITH  DR.  WULFFS  PARTY 

JUNE  I6TH-17TH. — We  now  press  forward  in  order  to 
overtake  our  comrades  as  soon  as  possible.  We  have  no 
time  to  wait  for  the  coolness  of  the  afternoon,  but  set  off 
in  the  sun-warmth  of  i>.30  on  fair  ice.  The  dogs  have  benefited 
from  the  rest  and  the  fat  seal  meat ;  with  the  light  sledges  they 
go  a  good  pace  if  one  of  us  will  only  walk  in  front  ;  and  so  that 
we  may  make  as  much  as  possible  of  our  opportunity,  we  decide 
to  try  another  day's  journey  of  at  least  40  kilometres. 

After  two  hours  we  pass  Cape  Emory,  which  juts  out  in  a 
comparatively  low  headland  with  a  cleft  rich  in  vegetation, 
where  Ajako  shoots  a  hare  and  catches  a  litter  of  young  ones. 
The  surrounding  country  is  an  impressive  alpine  landscape 
which,  snow-covered,  precipitous,  and  with  jagged  pinnacles, 
trends  in  to  a  narrow  fjord. 

In  a  little  bay  a  few  kilometres  from  Cape  Neumcyer,  we 
suddenly  spy  two  sledges  ;  we  start  with  amazement  and  almost 
lose  our  breath  with  excitement  when  we  discover  that  it  is  our 
comrades,  who,  with  a  much  reduced  team  of  dogs,  slowly, 
very  slowly,  work  their  way  towards  us.  Wulff  and  Harrigan 
walk  in  front,  whilst  Hendrik  and  Bosun  trail  behind  with  the 
sad  remainders  of  the  three  teams.  We  put  on  extra  speed 
and  it  does  not  take  many  minutes  before  we  meet.  It  is 
obvious  from  their  thin,  worn  faces  that  they  must  have  had  a 
hard  time  since  last  we  saw  them. 

They  have  hunted  in  vain  for  sixteen  days,  and  during  this 
long  period  they  have  had  to  feed  exclusively  on  dog.     They 

1:57 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

are  now  fleeing  for  life  southward,  as  it  has  been  impossible 
for  them  to  reach  de  Long  Fjord.  They  had  been  obliged  to 
reduce  the  number  of  dogs,  and  were  now  driving  one  team 
consisting  of  five  dogs,  with  their  baggage  wrapped  up  in  a  seal- 
skin. The  other  team  of  nine  dogs  was  yet  able  to  pull  a  real 
sledge.  Of  the  twenty-seven  dogs  which,  distributed  among 
three  sledges,  left  Cape  Salor  on  the  2nd  of  June,  only  fourteen 
remained. 

They  had  made  their  headquarters  at  Low  Point  and  con- 
tinued their  hunting  excursions  from  this  point  right  across  to 
Cape  Wykander ;  as,  however,  they  had  seen  not  the  slightest 
sign  of  musk-ox,  they  had  returned  so  that  they  might  save  the 
last  of  the  dogs  for  the  homeward  journey.  They  had  taken 
our  long  absence  to  indicate  that  we  had  succeeded  in  crossing 
the  inland-ice  to  Independence  Fjord,  and  as  it  seemed  obvious 
that  they  would  not  be  able  to  find  food  for  the  long  period  of 
waiting  which  this  would  necessitate,  they  had  decided  on  the 
homeward  journey  whilst  they  were  yet  in  a  fair  condition  and 
had  some  of  the  dogs  left. 

Considering  the  bad  luck  they  have  had,  nothing  could  be 
said  against  this  decision  ;  one  must  act  according  to  one's  own 
judgment  under  such  desperate  conditions,  and  the  different 
parties  of  an  expedition  must  always,  within  certain  limits,  have 
a  free  hand  so  that  one  does  not  run  the  risk  of  losing  everything 
out  of  consideration  for  agreements  when  presuppositions  prove 
to  be  incorrect.  For  all  that,  I  was  glad  to  meet  them  and  to 
prevent  their  lonely  homeward  journey. 

We  then  made  camp,  and  discussed  the  position  during  a 
feast  of  seal  meat,  hares,  and  abundant  coffee. 

It  was  essential  to  my  plan  that  everything  must  be  risked 
in  order  to  push  on  along  the  coast  where  our  comrades  had  been 
defeated  ;  when  so  near  to  our  goal,  I  could  not  decide  to  give 
up  and  start  the  homeward  journey  without  having  convinced 
myself  personally  that  progress  was  really  impossible.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  must  not  wantonly  attempt  something  which 
would  be  disastrous  for  the  whole  expedition.  Furthermore, 
the  prospects  of  what  one  might  meet  northward  were  so  dark, 
138 


CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCK  WOOD'S  BEACON 

that  I  could  only  continue  if  those  of  my  comrades,  who  neces- 
sarily must  accompany  me,  volunteered  to  make  the  attempt. 
Once  more  I  experienced  the  joy  of  seeing  how  serious  they 
considered  the  task  which  we  had  set  out  to  accomplish.  Koch 
and  Ajako  immediately  declared  themselves  willing  to  accom- 
pany me,  and  as  I,  provided  we  should  have  to  lose  yet  more 
dogs,  wished  to  have  two  men  by  each  sledge,  we  strengthened 
our  party  by  Bosun,  who  was  not  afraid  to  return  to  the  coast 
where  he  had  recently  been  starving. 

So  we  decided  that  Dr.  Wulff  with  Harrigan  and  Hendrik 
should  make  an  attempt  at  getting  their  dogs  down  to  the  seals 
of  the  whirlpool.  Provided  we  did  not  meet  with  too  great 
difficulties,  both  parties  might  then  meet  in  about  a  fortnight 
at  Cape  Salor.  Failing  this,  Dragon  Point  was  decided  on  as 
the  place  where  we  should  all  meet  before  the  commencement 
of  the  return  journey.     After  this  we  parted. 

During  the  halt  we  had  had  high,  sunny  weather ;  but  now 
our  mortal  enemy  the  fog  once  more  sneaked  in  from  the  Polar 
Sea,  raw  and  cold,  drifting  across  all  the  land  which  we  were  to 
survey.  We  became  suddenly  miserable  and  desolate,  not  least 
because  of  the  prospects  which,  according  to  our  comrades,  we 
must  reckon  on  when  we  move  eastward.  It  was  hopeless  to 
continue  the  journey  whilst  the  visibility  was  so  poor,  and  we 
made  camp  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  between  Cape  Neu- 
meyer  and  Cape  Bennett. 

It  seemed  well  worth  while  taking  matters  easy  and  rumin- 
ating on  the  decisions  which  had  to  be  made.  Our  position 
was  really  a  very  serious  one.  Of  provisions  we  had  merely  a 
piece  of  seal  meat  and  about  a  whole  sealskin  of  blubber.  Our 
dogs  would  not  be  able  to  stand  an  immediate  period  of  starva- 
tion, neither  could  we  reduce  their  number  if  they  were  to  pull 
the  two  sledges. 

As  if  to  intensify  our  despondency,  the  barometer  fell 
incessantly  and  did  not  promise  well  for  the  weather  we  might 
expect.  Whilst  the  others  were  asleep,  I  sat  thinking  about 
our  position. 

Would  it  be  possible  to  push  along  the  path  which  had  cost 

139 


GREENLAND    BY    THE    POLAR    SEA 

our  comrades  half  their  dogs  ?  I  was  ready  to  give  up  the  idea 
of  reaching  as  far  as  Cape  Morris  Jesup  or  Cape  Bridgeman, 
which  had  been  my  goal  the  whole  time.  But  de  Long  Fjord? 
How  very,  very  reluctantly  would  I  relinquish  that  hope !  It 
would  be  with  a  heavy  heart  that  I,  after  all  I  had  staked 
on  this  expedition,  would  go  home  without  having  been  able  to 
carry  through  my  programme.  The  great  main  fjords  and  the 
north  coast  were  now  charted  ;  and  dearly  we  had  paid  for  that 
work,  because  of  the  scarcity  of  game,  and  because  of  fog  and 
deep  snow.  And  now  de  Long  Fjord?  From  our  present 
camp  to  that  field  of  work  the  distance  is  only  about  100  kilo- 
metres, but  if  we  do  not  get  any  hunting  we  shall  probably  lose 
all  our  dogs. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  I  make  tea,  and  call  Ajako 
and  Bosun,  who  have  both  slept  soundly,  refusing  to  be  dis- 
turbed by  uncharted  fjords  and  much  too  uncertain  future 
possibilities.  I  consider  it  my  duty  to  make  the  position  clear 
to  them,  and  to  point  out  what  significance  it  will  have  for  the 
expedition  if  they  succeed  in  procuring  meat  in  this  place. 

The  fog  yet  lies  across  the  mountain-tops,  and  the  barometer 
continues  to  fall,  steadily  and  inconsiderately ;  but  a  light 
breeze  has  lifted  the  haze  somewhat,  so  that  the  ice  and  the 
foot  of  the  mountains  are  visible,  and  I  send  the  two  plucky 
hunters  out. 

June  17th. — At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  17th  they 
return,  Ajako  with  a  giant  seal,  Bosun  literally  dressed  in 
newly-killed  game,  with  one  goose,  three  hares,  and  eight 
ptarmigan. 

Once  more  we  are  saved  from  a  serious  situation.  Never 
has  booty  been  brought  to  our  tent  which  had  such  a  decisive 
significance  for  the  result  of  the  expedition,  and  I  am  filled 
with  happy  gratitude  to  the  fate  which  has  so  kindly  favoured 
the  two  young  Eskimos  in  this  desert,  where  the  others  had  to 
give  up. 

Without  risking  too  much,  we  may  now  continue  our  push 
towards  de  Long  Fjord,  and  we  furthermore  cache  two  or 
three  meals  for  each  team  on  this  spot.  We  celebrate  our  good 
140 


CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCKWOOD'S  BEACON 

fortune  with  a  mighty  least,  in  which  the  dogs  take  a  generous 
part  ;  then  we  decide  to  set  off  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day. 
The  Polar-ice,  closely  packed  against  the  coast,  has  lie  gun 
to  develop  casual  lanes,  approximately  4  kilometres  l'roni  land  ; 
it  was  by  one  of  these  lanes  that  Ajako  had  found  his  seal, 
which,  as  usual,  was  remarkably  shy. 


TOWARDS  CAPE  MOHN 

June  18th-20th. — Cape  Neumeyer  is — at  any  rate  in  the 
weather  we  have  had — an  unusually  depressing  cape;  it  pos- 
sesses occasional  little  valleys  where  a  chary  growth  of  grass 
enlivens  the  visitor ;  but  apart  from  this  all  is  stone  and  stone, 
which  not  even  by  their  shape  enliven  the  traveller.  We  have 
spent  our  most  intense  hours  in  this  place,  but  other  men  also 
have  crossed  this  point  with  death  at  their  heels.  It  was  here 
that  Peary  on  his  Polar  expedition  in  the  spring  of  1916  tried 
to  land  when,  starting  from  the  northern  extremity  of  Grant 
Land,  he  had  been  driven  out  of  his  course  by  a  strong  eastward 
current. 

I  look  across  the  pressed-up  and  difficult  Polar-ice  where 
a  way  had  to  be  hewn  for  the  sledges  through  the  ridges,  whilst 
hungry  men,  living  on  raw  and  frozen  bits  of  starved  dog-flesh, 
toiled  towards  the  coasts  where  also  we  had  found  it  difficult  to 
exist.  It  brings  to  my  mind  my  friend  Manigssoq,  who  on  this 
journey  had  his  eyes  frost-bitten  and  was  marked  for  life.  In 
vain  had  he  tried  to  keep  up  with  his  comrades,  who  in  longer 
and  longer  days'  journeys  struggled  for  life  as  they  nearcd 
Grant  Land,  where  the  ship  and  salvation  was  to  be  found. 
When  at  length  he  could  manage  no  further,  he  was  left  in  a 
cold  snow-hut  with  the  frozen  leg  of  a  dog  for  his  only  food,  and 
here  he  fought  alone  against  incipient  frost-bite  for  days,  until 
a  relief  party  from  the  ship  reached  him  and  restored  him  to  life. 

With  our  gipsy-like  temperaments,  and  on  the  strength  of 
yesterday's  catch,  we  were  now  in  the  happy  position  of  being 
able  to  ignore  for  the  present  the  conflicts  of  life  which  might 
here  arise.     "Forward,"  which  was  our  watchword  until  the 

141 


GREENLAND   BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

goal  was  reached,  again  sang  through  all  our  being.  The 
weather  was  bad,  showers  of  wet  snow  drifted  over  us,  and  the 
going  was  heavy  and  miserable.  All  through  the  day  we  labour 
ahead  through  the  showers,  which  for  hours  rob  us  of  any  view  ; 
but  as  we  have  no  time  to  waste,  we  wade  stubbornly  through 
the  snow.  When  occasionally  the  thick  weather  eases,  the 
most  beautiful  landscape  is  unveiled  before  us ;  in  Mascart 
Inlet  we  are  everywhere  surrounded  by  high,  cone-like,  snow- 
clad  mountains,  furrowed  by  many  clefts  which  create  life  and 
change  in  the  monotony.  At  the  head  of  the  inlet  we  see  the 
place  where  the  channel  of  the  whirlpool  runs  out,  and  in  this 
we  find  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  open  water,  which  in 
the  beginning  puzzled  us. 

Out  in  the  middle  of  Mascart  Inlet  we  meet  with  a  depress- 
ing sight.  On  a  high  hummock  of  ice  we  find  the  sledge  which 
our  comrades  had  had  to  leave.  Poor  litter  of  various  kinds 
is  deposited  by  its  side  to  lighten  it,  but  the  most  pathetic  sight 
is  the  carcase  of  a  poor  dog  which  had  tried  in  vain  to  follow 
the  tracks  of  its  masters  from  Cape  Payer,  to  reach  exhausted 
this  sledge  where  nothing  eatable  was  to  be  found.  Summon- 
ing its  last  strength,  it  had  crawled  up  on  the  transom,  where  on 
our  arrival  we  found  it  dead. 

The  storm  seems  constantly  to  grow  worse ;  the  squalls  of 
wind  whip  our  faces  with  wet  snow  ;  and  as  at  last  our  clothing 
suffers  too  severely,  we  have,  much  against  our  will,  to  pitch 
our  tent  already  by  Low  Point.  Here  we  find  our  comrades' 
camp  of  starvation,  which  does  not  need  commentaries  ;  strewn 
about  were  the  bones  of  the  many  dogs  which  had  had  to  die  to 
be  eaten  by  their  comrades  and  the  four  men  who,  in  spite  of 
their  persistence,  were  unable  to  find  sufficient  food. 

From  the  top  of  a  small  mountain  we  discover,  rather  close 
to  land,  a  small  seal  which  has  crawled  up  onto  the  ice  in  spite 
of  wind  and  weather.  It  is  on  good  ice  and  the  mere  sight  of 
it  makes  us  imagine  that  we  have  already  skinned  it  and  put 
it  in  the  pan,  for  none  of  us  doubt  but  that,  in  the  course  of  an 
hour  or  so,  it  will  be  our  prey.  We  soon  find,  however,  that 
it  is  an  animal  just  as  fond  of  its  life  as  are  the  rest  of  us ; 
142 


CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCKWOOD'S  BEACON 

furthermore,  it  is  an  expert  in  the  art  of  teasing.  As  soon  as 
we  approach,  long  before  we  can  get  within  range,  it  dives 
down  through  its  breathing-hole ;  but  hardly  have  we  turned 
towards  land  before  it  crawls  up  again,  repeating  this  comedy 
every  time  we  continue  the  hunt. 

We  cannot  understand  the  reason  for  the  seals  being  so 
uncommonly  shy  here,  where  no  hunting  takes  place.  The 
fact  that  they  are  very  few  in  number  may  probably  sharpen 
their  attention  towards  every  unusual  sound,  more  so  than  in 
other  places  where  they  gather  in  greater  numbers ;  and  up  to 
this  time  we  have  merely  seen  one  single  seal  at  a  time. 
Neither  are  there  any  ice-bears  here  to  hunt  them  ;  if  the  bears 
exist  at  all,  they  are  so  few  in  numbers  as  to  be  insignificant ; 
otherwise  it  is  not  our  experience  that  these  make  the  seals  shy, 
for  in  Melville  Bay,  where  the  ice-bears  yet  have  their  El 
Dorado,  the  spring  seals  are  tamer  and  less  nervous  than  any- 
where else  in  Greenland. 

Joe  and  Hans  Hendrik  made  the  same  discovery  during  the 
"Polaris  "  expedition,  and  it  seemed  to  them  so  strange  that 
the  seals  should  disappear  through  their  breathing-holes  at  the 
slightest  creak  even  from  a  very  long  distance,  that  they  com- 
municated to  Hall  their  supposition  that  human  beings  must 
exist  in  the  neighbourhood. 

From  land  we  had  watched  a  couple  of  seals  attentively 
through  our  glasses  before  we  started  hunting  them.  When 
in  the  South  of  Greenland  a  seal  crawls  up  on  the  ice  to  sleep,  it 
rolls  about  in  the  snow  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  it 
stretches  out  with  its  head  on  the  ice,  falling  into  a  sleep  so  deep 
that,  with  care,  one  can  as  a  rule  get  within  range  without 
waking  it.  But  up  here  the  seal  remains  quiet  only  a  few 
minutes  at  a  time,  then  it  will  raise  its  head  and  look  search- 
ingly  in  all  directions,  just  as  if  it  were  continually  expecting 
an  ambush  of  some  kind  or  other.  Thus  we  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  is  the  great  and  sudden  pressures  of  ice  which 
have  made  them  so  timid  and  nervous ;  for  if  a  pressing-up, 
due  to  the  exertion  of  ice  masses  from  outside,  is  commenced 
suddenly  and  without  warning,  the  little  cleft  where  the  seal 

143 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

lives  will  be  closed,  and  its  access  to  the  ocean  and  to  food  will 
be  barred.  Even  if  the  seal  should  succeed  in  slipping  down 
through  the  fissure,  it  woidd  run  the  risk  of  being  killed,  and 
this  is  probably  the  reason  for  the  short  duration  of  its  sleep, 
and  for  its  being  so  easily  startled  by  the  slightest  sound. 

When  we  had  wasted  a  good  deal  of  time  on  the  teasing 
seal,  we  abandoned  ice-hunting  to  try  our  fortune  on  land. 
Here  Bosun  quickly  succeeded  in  bringing  down  three  fat, 
delicious  barnacle-geese,  which  proved  a  comforting  com- 
pensation. 

We  spent  a  day  at  Low  Point  with  quick  changes  in  the 
weather,  and  a  temperature  of  a  constant  minus  1°  (Cent.). 
Due  north  the  sky  is  clear,  but  thick  banks  of  fog  constantly 
drift  in  from  north-west,  enveloping  everything  in  a  raw, 
whitish-grey  haze  ;  the  sun  is  permitted  to  shine  on  us  for  a  few 
moments,  then  once  more  it  disappears  ;  towards  evening  a 
belt  of  fog  settles  on  the  mountains  to  the  south-west,  leaving 
the  horizon  visible,  and  we  decide  to  continue. 

We  cross  Jewell  Inlet,  which,  with  its  pointed  high  moun- 
tains, reminds  one  of  Mascart  Inlet.  We  pass  Cape  Wykander, 
which  proves  to  be  an  island,  and  from  this  point  we  enter  on 
an  even  gradient  of  coastland  trending  in  towards  the  mouth  of 
de  Long  Fjord.  All  this  even  mountain-land  is  very  fertile, 
and  seems  to  be  the  favoured  haunt  of  hares  and  ptarmigan. 
Without  the  slightest  delay  in  our  progress,  we  succeed  in 
killing,  almost  straight  from  our  sledges,  four  hares  and  six 
ptarmigan.  But  in  spite  of  the  wealth  of  willow  and  grass, 
we  find  no  sign  of  musk-oxen.  The  whole  of  the  connected 
high  mountain  ridge  which  runs  from  the  sound  by  Cape 
Wykander  in  to  de  Long  Fjord  has  before  its  foot  a  wide  and 
pretty  plain. 

On  a  very  low  projecting  point  we  find  a  small  beacon  which, 
to  our  surprise,  contains  a  report  from  Lock  wood. 

In  a  lane  5  kilometres  from  land  Ajako  shoots  a  seal,  and 
we  now  feel  well  provisioned  for  our  stay  in  the  fjord  where  we 
are  to  finish  our  work. 


144 


CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCKWOOD'S  BEACON 


LOCKWOODS  VOYAGE 

Every  time  we  meet  with  memorials  of  those  who  fought 
the  same  fight  for  progress  as  we  do  on  this  lonely  coast,  we 
feel  that  unknown  men  greet  us,  reaching  out  a  friendly  hand 
to  comrades  who  continue  their  trails. 

Lockwood's  beacon  is  situated  on  a  large  plain,  stretching 
in  front  of  the  high  mountain  ridge  up  towards  Cape  Mohn. 
It  is  small  and  insignificant,  no  more  than  1  metre  high, 
wherefore  in  no  way  does  it  attract  attention.  This  explains 
how  it  came  to  pass  that  both  Peary  and  McMillan  drove  past 
without  noticing  it.  But  we  who  examine  every  little  irregu- 
larity in  the  ground,  in  the  constant  hope  of  finding  game, 
discover  it  at  a  considerable  distance.  The  report  was  deposited 
in  a  tin  which  was  in  no  way  water-tight,  but,  notwithstanding 
this,  the  writing  was  easily  deciphered  after  the  thirty-five  years 
of  varied  weather  which  had  beaten  round  the  open  beacon. 
With  ancient  Norse  brevity  the  statement  is  made  that 
in  May,  1882,  two  Americans,  Lockwood  and  Brainard, 
together  with  the  Greenlander  Frederik  Kristiansen,  passed 
this  place. 

Lockwood  was  a  member  of  the  Greely  Expedition  which 
started  from  America  in  1881,  as  a  section  of  the  great  Inter- 
national Meteorological  Exploration  which  during  that  year 
took  place  all  the  world  over.  The  expedition,  which  had  its 
winter  quarters  in  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  approximately  at  Dis- 
covery Harbour,  was  taken  so  far  north  by  the  steamer  Proteus, 
which  immediately  after  the  landing  turned  back  again.  Here 
the  house  was  built  which  later  on  became  so  famous  under  the 
name  of  Fort  Conger.  In  America  the  following  arrange- 
ments had  been  made  for  the  maintenance  of  communication 
with  the  scientists  who  were  sent  out :  As  early  as  1882  a  ship 
would  be  sent  up,  but  if  this  could  not  get  into  communication 
with  the  winter  quarters,  a  depot  was  to  be  laid  down  as  far 
north  in  Grinnell  Land  as  possible.  The  following  year  a  new 
attempt  would  be  made  ;  if  also  this  were  to  fail,  a  relief  party 
K  145 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

was  to  make  its  way  as  far  up  into  Smith  Sound  as  possible, 
later  on,  when  the  ice  had  settled,  to  attempt  a  connection  with 
the  expedition  by  the  aid  of  sledges. 

In  Godhavn  and  Upernivik  the  services  were  enlisted  of  two 
Greenlanders,  Jens  and  Frederik  Kristiansen,  who,  during  the 
absence  of  the  expedition  in  1881-1884,  proved  to  be  very 
valuable  members.  The  Americans — contrary  to  Nares'  men 
who  have  previously  been  mentioned — employed  the  Eskimos 
fully  ;  and  with  the  aid  of  these  two  excellent  dog-drivers  they 
succeeded  in  breaking  all  previous  records. 

Lockwood  was  without  comparison  the  most  interesting  and 
important  man  of  Greely's  staff.  On  the  3rd  of  April  he  left 
Fort  Conger  with  a  train  of  twelve  men,  each  of  whom  was  to 
pull  a  load  of  130  pounds ;  further,  there  was  Frederik,  who, 
with  his  eight  dogs,  was  to  freight  a  load  of  100  pounds  per  dog. 
On  the  27th  of  April  he  returned  all  the  human  beasts  of 
burden,  and  continued  northward  with  Brainard  and  Frederik. 
Like  ourselves,  he  got  at  Cape  Bryant  a  view  of  the  land  which 
Beaumont  at  such  great  personal  risk  had  explored,  and  he 
tried  at  once  to  set  his  course  for  Cape  May,  where  all  the  many 
secrets  of  the  land  due  north  should  have  revealed  themselves 
to  the  sick  Englishmen.  But  hardly  had  he  progressed  half  a 
score  of  miles  inward  when  he  met  with  the  same  soft  snow 
which  had  constituted  such  a  difficulty  for  Beaumont.  He 
resolutely  decided  to  continue  northward  far  out  at  sea,  rather 
than  waste  his  time  on  details. 

On  the  1st  of  May  he  reached  Cape  Britannia,  which,  ac- 
cording to  Greely's  order,  was  the  goal  of  his  journey.  But  as 
the  coast  which  he  was  to  follow  on  the  return  journey  was 
provided  with  many  depots,  and  as  the  dogs,  which  had  met 
with  no  difficulties  worth  mentioning,  were  as  yet  in  prime 
condition,  Lockwood  decided  at  once  to  continue  further  north- 
ward, constantly  keeping  the  distance  from  land  necessary  for 
good  driving.  This  voyage  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  recon- 
noitring. It  was  important  for  him  to  make  sure  of  land  ahead 
as  far  north  as  possible  without  examining  it  closely  ;  and 
146 


CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCKWOOD'S  BEACON 

because  of  the  task  he  had  set  himself  he  could  thus  with  a  good 
conscience  plant  his  American  flag  on  Lockwood  Island  in  the 
mouth  of  de  Long  Fjord  on  the  13th  of  May.  England,  which 
for  three  hundred  years  had  held  the  honour  of  being  the  nation 
which  planted  its  flag  farthest  north,  must  now  yield  to  the 
Americans.  England's  farthest  north,  reached  by  Markham  at 
83°  20'  26",  was  now  beaten  by  Lockwood's  83°  24'.  It  was 
not  much,  but  it  was  a  record  nevertheless.  In  his  book 
Greely  describes  the  event  in  the  following  manner  : 

"  For  three  centuries  England  had  held  the  honours  of  the 
farthest  north.  Now  Lockwood,  profiting  by  their  labours  and 
experiences,  surpassed  their  efforts  of  three  centuries  by  land 
and  ocean.  And  with  Lockwood's  name  should  be  associated 
that  of  his  inseparable  sledge  companion  Brainard,  without 
whose  efficient  aid  and  restless  energy,  as  Lockwood  said,  the 
work  could  not  have  been  accomplished.  So,  with  proper  pride, 
they  looked  that  day  from  the  vantage-ground  of  the  farthest 
north  (Lockwood  Island)  to  the  desolate  Cape  which,  until 
surpassed  in  coming  ages,  may  well  bear  the  grand  name  of 
Washington." 

Already  on  the  1st  of  June,  sixty  days  after  they  started, 
the  expedition  was  back  at  Fort  Conger,  with  all  men  in  good 
condition. 

Unfortunately,  consideration  of  space  limits  my  description 
of  Greely's  Expedition,  which,  when  one  takes  into  considera- 
tion the  tragic  fate  which  befell  it,  must  surely  be  called  the 
most  famous  of  them  all. 

The  members  worked  energetically  during  the  whole  of  their 
stay  by  Fort  Conger,  both  in  across  the  land  and  northward. 
The  most  interesting  part  of  their  work  was  the  exploration  of 
Grant  Land,  the  inner  reaches  of  which  were  at  that  time  en- 
tirely unknown ;  by  the  aid  of  small  light  hand-carts  the 
explorers  were  enabled  to  examine  the  land  thoroughly. 
Especially  important  were  the  ethnographical  results,  as  inland 
near  Lake  Hazen  several  Eskimo  camps  were  found.  Greely 
himself  took  part  in  the  inland  excursions,  and  the  men's 
capacity  for  work  was  highly  increased  by  the  circumstance 

117 


GREENLAND   BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

that,  in  contradistinction  to  all  previous  expeditions,  they  did 
not  suffer  from  scurvy,  thanks  to  a  sensible  diet. 

Lockwood  himself  exceeded  everyone  else  in  energy  and 
working  ability.  In  1883  he  went  northward  on  a  fresh  excur- 
sion along  the  land  which  he  had  discovered,  and  in  a  surpris- 
ingly short  time  he  reached  Black  Horn  Cliffs,  where,  however, 
he  had  to  turn,  as  he  found  open  water. 

The  road  being  blocked,  Lockwood,  with  Brainard  and 
Frederik,  chose  a  new  route  across  Grinnell  Land,  which  was 
explored  simultaneously  with  the  discovery  of  the  big  Greely 
Fjord.  In  the  meantime  two  winters  had  passed  without  com- 
munication with  the  relief  expeditions  which  had  been  promised 
for  the  return  journey  ;  and  as,  unfortunately,  the  expedition 
had  been  ordered,  failing  connection  with  the  ship,  to  attempt 
a  movement  southward  in  the  direction  of  relief,  they  now  began 
to  prepare  for  that  journey,  which  proved  altogether  disastrous 
and  gave  rise  to  the  greatest  tragedy  which  has  ever  befallen 
an  Arctic  expedition. 

To  this  must  be  added  that  the  state  of  affairs  on  board  was 
not  a  happy  one,  things  even  going  so  far  that  the  physician  to 
the  expedition,  Dr.  Pavy,  was  arrested  for  insubordination 
during  the  last  summer  at  Fort  Conger.  If  ever  there  are 
conditions  in  life  where  comradely  co-operation  under  a  firm 
leader  is  absolutely  essential  to  success,  they  are  to  be  found 
during  Arctic  exploration  where  the  few  people  who  have  to 
live  together  are  entirely  dependent  upon  each  other.  A  situa- 
tion like  this,  therefore,  proved  a  great  calamity.  Further, 
opinions  differed  as  to  whether  a  couple  of  sledges  ought  to  be 
sent  down  to  Littleton  Island,  where,  as  a  link  in  the  whole 
chain  of  plans  put  down  for  Greely  before  his  departure  from 
America,  a  depot  had  been  promised.  It  is  always  easy  to 
criticize  afterwards  when  the  results  of  the  dispositions  are 
evident,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  plans  here  mentioned, 
under  the  leadership  of  one  of  the  by  now  well-trained  sledge 
travellers  with  one  of  the  Eskimos  for  his  companion,  must 
have  appeared  quite  natural.  But  Greely  was  against  the  pro- 
position and  managed  to  frustrate  it.  They  then  decided  that 
148 


LAUGE    KOCH 


THE    SNOW    BEGINS   TO    GET    WET 


CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCKWOOD'S  BEACON 

they  should  all  go  southward  along  Grinnell  Land,  attempting 
to  communicate  with  the  relief  ship  or  depots. 

When  they  broke  up,  the  order  was  given  that  private- 
property  must  be  left  behind  ;  the  officers,  however,  being 
permitted  to  bring  a  load  of  16  pounds  each,  whereas  the 
rankers  were  only  allowed  8  pounds.  Such  partiality  must 
have  a  very  bad  effect  during  an  expedition,  where  no  differen- 
tiation based  on  rank  ought  to  be  permitted.  Furthermore, 
the  unfortunate  decision  was  carried  that  all  dogs  were  to  be 
left  behind  at  Fort  Conger,  whereby  they  were  cut  off  from  all 
possibilities  of  hunting,  should  they  have  to  undertake  another 
wintering  without  outside  help. 

On  the  9th  of  August  all  men  left  the  station  in  boats.  At 
this  time  they  had  yet  provisions  for  a  year,  and  they  knew  that 
the  country  was  prolific  with  game. 

Under  great  difficulties  the  boats,  through  drifting  hum- 
mocks of  ice,  reached  Cape  Sabine,  about  400  miles  distant, 
where  at  last  in  some  beacons  they  found  information  of  what 
had  hitherto  been  done  for  the  relief  of  the  expedition.  The 
first  ship  was  wrecked  ;  the  second,  not  being  able  to  penetrate 
the  ice  sufficiently  far  up,  had  returned  with  all  the  provisions. 
In  another  beacon  they  were  solemnly  assured  that  everything 
in  human  power  would  be  done  to  save  the  expedition  next 
year. 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  prepare  for  winter  as  well  as 
might  be.  A  wretched  house,  consisting  almost  entirely  of  a 
boat  with  the  keel  turned  up,  was  erected  on  Pim  Island.  A 
few  depots  were  found,  but  far  from  sufficient  for  the  needs  of 
autumn,  winter,  and  spring.  One  can  picture  to  oneself  the 
regret  with  which  the  men  thought  of  the  good  warm  winter- 
house  at  Fort  Conger,  where  even  a  coal-mine  was  to  be  found 
a  short  distance  from  the  door,  and  of  all  the  good  provisions 
which  would  have  seen  them  through  the  winter  ;  finally,  there 
were  the  dogs,  which  could  have  led  the  hunters  far  inland  on 
musk-ox  hunts. 

This  "starvation  camp,"  as  it  was  later  called,  gives  the 
most  tragic  pictures  of  human  need  and  misery.     Autumn 

149 


GREENLAND   BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

passed  tolerably  ;  during  that  period  Greely  even  tried  to  keep 
up  the  spirits  of  his  people  by  lecturing  to  them  in  the  midst  of 
cold  and  hunger.  Later  on  they  lost  strength  for  any  attempt 
at  resistance,  and  one  by  one  they  were  consumed  by  terrible 
suffering.  One  of  the  Eskimos,  Frederik,  died  as  a  result  of 
over-exertion  during  an  unsuccessful  hunting  excursion ;  the 
other,  Jens,  was  drowned  in  his  kayak  during  an  attempt  to 
work  through  thin  ice  in  the  endeavour  to  reach  a  shot  seal ; 
and  as  the  expedition  no  longer  had  the  services  of  these  pro- 
fessional hunters,  everything  seems  to  have  gone  slowly  down- 
hill. Even  the  energetic  Lockwood,  full  of  initiative,  succumbed 
to  hunger,  which  slowly  stole  a  march  on  him  ;  towards  spring, 
when  the  light  returned  and  most  of  the  men  were  unable  to 
walk,  one  might  discover,  after  the  catastrophe  had  taken 
place,  that  one  shared  the  sleeping-bag  with  a  dead  comrade. 
At  long  last,  on  the  22nd  of  June,  1884,  the  ship  arrived,  but 
then  there  were  only  six  men  alive  out  of  the  twenty-four. 

Greely  himself  finishes  his  report  with  the  following  pathetic 
words  : 

"  Towards  midnight  of  the  22nd,  I  heard  the  sound  of  the 
steam-whistle  of  the  Thetis,  which,  by  the  order  of  Captain 
Schley,  was  to  call  his  people  together.  My  ear  did  not  deceive 
me,  although  I  could  hardly  believe  that,  in  the  storm,  a  ship 
would  venture  so  near  to  land. 

"In  a  weak  voice  I  asked  Brainard  and  Long  if  they  had 
strength  enough  left  to  go  out,  and  to  this  they  replied  as  usual 
that  they  would  do  their  utmost.  I  requested  them  to  return 
and  inform  us  if  they  sighted  a  ship.  In  the  course  of  ten 
minutes,  Brainard  returned  from  the  ridge  about  50  yards  away, 
and  reported  in  a  very  subdued  voice  that  nothing  was  to  be 
seen,  and  that  Long  had  gone  to  hoist  the  flag  of  distress  which 
had  blown  down.  Brainard  again  crept  into  his  sleeping-bag 
whilst  we  started  an  aimless  discussion  of  the  sound  which  we 
had  heard,  during  which  Bierderbick  maintained  that  the  ship 
must  be  lying  in  Payer  Harbour — a  statement  in  which  I  did 
not  believe,  as  I  thought  the  whistle  must  have  come  from  a 
150 


CAPE  SALOR  TO  LOCKWOOD'S  BEACON 

ship  passing  along  the  coast.  We  had  given  up  all  hope  when 
suddenly  we  heard  strange  voices  calling  my  name,  and  with  a 
feeling  as  madly  mighty  as  our  exhausted  condition  permitted, 
it  dawned  on  us  that  our  country  had  not  failed  us,  that  all  our 
long  sufferings  were  passed,  and  the  remains  of  Lady  Franklin's 
Expedition  saved." 


151 


CHAPTER  VIII 
DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR 

AT  THE  GOAL 

THE  result  of  the  previous  day's  reconnoitrings  was  that, 
from  the  high  mountains  situated  10  kilometres  in  along 
the  fjord,  one  might  expect  to  get  a  view  of  all  the  ter- 
ritory which  we  had  yet  to  map.  The  Island  we  named  Hanne 
Island,  whilst  the  mountain  which  was  to  be  the  base  for  the 
last  observations  was  called  Thule  Mountain. 

Without  any  greater  difficulty  we  covered  the  distance  to 
Thule  Mountain  on  good  ice,  and  Koch  and  Ajako  ascended  the 
mountain  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  There  was  a  gale 
blowing,  and  during  the  day  we  observed  many  and  increasing 
-Fd/in-clouds  which,  like  huge  dragons,  drifted  across  the  sky. 
At   two   o'clock   Ajako    returned    with   the    following   letter 

from  Koch  : 

"Thule  Mountain, 

"21.  6.  1917. 

"  Ajako  and  I  arrived  at  the  top  here,  which  is  780  metres 
high,  sufficiently  early  for  a  noon  observation.  De  Long  Fjord 
is  large,  and  rich  in  surprises.  Let  me  start  at  Cape  Mohn. 
To  the  south  of  this,  a  fjord  inward  due  west,  with  a  sound  to 
the  Polar  Sea  and  valley  across  to  the  sound  south  of  Hanne 
Island,  so  that  I  see  water  in  front  of  Cape  Ramsay  Island. 
Then  a  fjord  due  south-west  with  valley  possibly  to  Mascart 
Inlet.  Further,  fjord  due  south  with  inlet  ice  as  background. 
Further,  a  broad  fjord,  some  thirty  kilometres  long,  due  south- 
east, from  which  two  valleys  due  east,  whereof  the  northern- 
most cuts  far  into  the  country.  There  is  probably  a  lake  in  the 
direction  of  Frederick  Hyde  Fjord.  Due  north  from  here 
Wild  Fjord  lies  as  a  panorama.  The  two  large  new  fjords  can 
be  taken  with  a  vertical  base.  Strong  and  cold  wind  will  unfor- 
152 


DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR 

tunately  delay  sketching  somewhat.     But  the  air  in  over  Peary 
Land  continues  very  clear." 

After  this  encouraging  telegram  I  immediately  went  up  to 
the  survey  station.     It  was  a  laborious  and  strenuous  walk 


*  '-.     1 1 "///,.''''/.'.'''., 


'Mium< 


rrr>> 


Mm)?'};,;} 


THE    LOWER    SKETCH    SHOWS    DE    LONG    FJORD    AND    SURROUNDING    DISTRICTS    AS    KNOWN 

PREVIOUS  TO    THE    SECOND    THULE    EXPEDITION. 

THE    UPPER    SKETCH    SHOWS   THE    SAME    DISTRICT    CHARTED    BY   US. 

across  loose  stones,  but  when  at  last  I  got  a  full  view  of  the  sur- 
roundings I  nearly  dropped  with  surprise  at  the  enormous  Arctic- 
landscape  which  lay  before  my  eyes. 

On  the  one  hand  the  Polar  Sea,  the  enormity  of  which  I 

1.53 


GREENLAND   BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

have  often  described ;  on  the  other  Peary  Land,  which  I  knew 
from  Independence  Fjord,  but  which  here,  towards  the  ice- 
bound ocean,  had  quite  another  winter  character  than  it  has  in 
its  eastern  regions  during  the  same  season.  The  land  was  every- 
where covered  with  snow,  with  glaciers  on  all  tops,  and  every 
hope  of  rinding  hunting-ground,  corresponding  in  conditions  to 
Poppy  Valley  on  Adam  Biering  Land,  was  torn  up  by  the  root. 

By  the  foot  of  Thule  Mountain  we  had  found  the  remains  of 
very  old  musk-ox  bones  on  some  small  grassy  slopes  ;  but  they 
crumbled  with  age  and  gave  us  no  encouragement  to  try  our 
fortune  across  the  surrounding  coastland. 

Lockwood,  who  gave  this  fjord  its  name,  passed  so  far  out 
at  sea  because  of  the  travelling  conditions  that  he  got  no  survey 
of  de  Long  Fjord,  which  he  viewed  as  a  single  great  fjord 
cleaving  its  way  in  between  the  mountains  of  Peary  Land. 
Later  on,  Robert  Peary  passed  by  almost  the  same  route,  and, 
as  also  his  observations  gave  no  details  of  the  fjord  complex, 
the  theory  has  arisen  that  de  Long  Fjord  probably  continued 
so  far  inland  that  it,  as  a  huge  channel,  combined  itself  with 
the  assumed  Peary  Channel  approximately  midway  between 
Nordenskjold  Fjord  and  Independence  Fjord.  After  the  whole 
of  the  big  Peary  Channel  had  been  reduced  to  a  myth,  partly 
by  the  first,  partly  by  the  second  Thule  Expedition,  there  was 
still  the  possibility  that  de  Long  Fjord — at  any  rate  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  quite  small  Nordenskjold  Fjord — might  pene- 
trate so  deeply  as  to  create  around  its  head  a  stretch  of  country 
of  the  same  kind  as  that  which  in  1912  I  had  found  by  the  head 
of  Independence  Fjord.  If  this  were  the  case,  the  distance 
from  here  to  Poppy  Valley  in  Adam  Biering  Land,  so  prolific 
in  game,  was  so  short  that  with  advantage  one  might  have 
founded  a  station  for  rest  and  recreation,  which  would  have 
been  of  especial  benefit  to  the  botanist. 

These  reasons  had,  on  the  31st  of  May,  led  to  the  division 
of  the  expedition — a  division  which  in  itself  did  not  seem  very 
risky,  as  we  knew  that,  in  any  case,  it  would  be  possible  to  save 
oneself  by  a  comparatively  speedy  journey  on  good  ice  down 
to  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape  Morris  Jesup,  where  the 
154 


DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR 

Americans  twice  had  found  conditions  favourable.  But  this 
plan,  as  we  have  already  heard,  proved  impossible  to  carry  out ; 
an  unusually  persistent  storm  had  contributed  considerably  to 
the  destruction  of  the  first  party's  dogs.  Thanks  to  our  better 
fortune,  Koch  and  I  were  at  last  standing  on  the  summit  of  the 
mountain  from  which  the  work  of  the  expedition  could  be  com- 
pleted. This  fjord  was  the  northernmost  goal  of  our  voyage. 
Even  here  by  Greenland's  last,  large  fjord,  one  might  expect 
surprises  and  results  to  be  added  to  those  already  experienced. 
This  was  the  reason  why  we,  in  spite  of  our  comrades'  uncanny 
experiences,  had  staked  everything  on  reaching  this  spot,  and 
as  now  we  stood  by  our  goal,  with  our  return  journey  safe- 
guarded by  seal  meat  and  blubber,  we  all  felt  that  inexpressible 
joy  known  only  to  him  who  has  shouldered  a  task  and  carried 
it  through  in  face  of  all  difficulties. 

We  named  the  two  new  fjords,  calling  the  one  due  south- 
west Th.  Thomsen  Fjord,  after  the  inspector  of  the  National 
Museum,  who  so  often  during  our  preparations  had  helped  us 
with  good  advice.  The  great  main  fjord  itself  kept,  of  course, 
its  name  of  de  Long  Fjord  ;  whilst  the  30  kilometres  long  fjord 
to  the  north-east  of  the  middle  arm  was  named  after  Professor 
Bernhard  Boggild,  a  member  of  the  scientific  committee  of  the 
expedition.  Not  only  the  geological  but  also  the  cartographical 
and  ethnographical  explorations  found  their  natural  conclusion 
here.  The  stretch  of  coast  from  de  Long  Fjord  to  Cape 
Bridgeman  was  in  1900  traversed  by  Peary,  and  no  deviations 
in  the  contours  of  the  land  in  the  form  of  islands  or  deep  inden- 
tations had  been  found.  Thus  no  correcting  work  was  left  for 
us ;  no  mistakes  were  possible.  When  Peary  had  come  to 
wrong  conclusions  with  regard  to  places  like  Nordenskjold 
Fjord  and  de  Long  Fjord,  not  to  mention  Independence  Fjord, 
these  mistakes  were,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  easy  to 
explain.  Due  to  the  great  stretches  of  entirely  unsurveyed 
country  which  Peary  had  to  traverse,  his  task  assumed  a  form 
which  merely  demanded  that  the  main  contours  of  the  land 
should  be  put  down  and  the  details  left,  these  details  becoming 
the  work  of  the  subsequent  expeditions  for  which  the  first 

155 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

excursions  showed  the  way.  Thus  there  was  no  reason  for  us  to 
continue,  all  the  more  as  on  our  departure  we  had  pointed  out 
this  fjord  as  being  our  absolute  goal. 

As  far  as  our  work  was  concerned,  I  had  arrived  at  a  result 
which  could  not  be  elaborated  by  a  continuation  of  our  excur- 
sion ;  for  the  possibility  of  a  migration  of  Eskimos  north  of 
Greenland  had  been  disposed  of  by  the  natural  conditions  which 
we  found  here  by  the  last  great  fjord  on  the  north-west  coast. 
The  land  offers  no  means  of  subsistence,  and  the  inner  regions 
of  the  fjord,  being  covered  with  floating  inland-ice,  forbid  the 
seal-hunt  so  essential  for  all  Eskimo  life. 

On  the  same  day  we  built  a  final  beacon,  the  Thule  beacon, 
near  the  large  mountain  which  gave  us  the  terminating  view  of 
the  last  regions  of  Greenland  which  were  not  yet  known. 

HOMEWARD  AT  LAST 

June  22nd-2Srd. — The  sudden  arrival  of  the  spring  had 
melted  the  snows,  so  that  we  began  to  find  water  beneath.  This 
isa  stage  rightly  feared  by  all  Arctic  travellers ;  for  at  any 
moment  the  sledge  may  be  sucked  down  by  the  wet  snow,  when 
it  is  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  one  can  get  it  up 
again.  The  good  seal  meat  had  once  more  stiffened  the  tails  of 
the  dogspbut  the  slushy  ground  quickly  wore  down  their  courage. 
It  therefore  seemed  high  time  to  go  down  to  Dragon  Point. 

Even  our  skis,  which  had  been  of  such  great  advantage  to 
us,  were  heavy  as  lead  with  all  the  wet  snow  that  clung  to  them  ; 
we  rubbed  them  with  a  candle,  but  the  beneficent  results  did 
not  last  long.  And  the  snowshoes  which  bore  up  so  well  in  the 
soft  snow  were  now,  like  the  skis,  enveloped  in  thick  layers  of 
wet  snow  and  hung  like  weights  round  our  feet. 

We  started  at  seven  o'clock  on  the  22nd,  and  by  one  o'clock 
we  had  covered  the  22  kilometres  to  Lockwood's  Beacon,  where 
we  pitched  our  tents  and  cooked  as  many  hares  as  we  could 
manage  to  eat.  We  had  shot  seven  on  the  way  during  the 
day,  and  with  the  addition  of  a  piece  of  blubber  these  lean  hares 
were  a  delicacy.  We  suffered  from  the  heat  and  went  about 
156 


DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR 

half-naked  ;  the  temperature  on  this  day  swung  between  3° 
and  (1°  (Cent.)  of  warmth. 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  we  continued  the  journey, 
each  man  having,  during  this  camping  period,  disposed  of  rather 
more  than  one  hare.  The  sudden  mildness  was  now  succeeded 
by  raw,  cold  weather,  and  all  the  ice  of  the  Polar  Sea  seemed 
to  drive  its  cold  at  our  faces,  creating  a  feeling  which  is  not 
exactly  in  keeping  with  midsummer  night. 

Some  movement  in  the  ice  was  already  apparent,  as  we 
could  plainly  feel  a  fissure  from  Cape  Mohn  right  across  to  Cape 
Neumeyer,  whilst  another  at  a  distance  of  2  kilometres  from 
land  followed  the  coast  towards  Cape  Wykander. 

June  2ith. — The  cool  weather  improved  the  going,  as  we 
had  expected,  and  it  was  a  pleasure  to  note  the  good  distance 
made  by  the  dogs. 

We  were  all  anxious  to  celebrate  midsummer  night,  and  our 
wish  was  fulfilled  in  an  amusing  manner.  Just  as  we  passed 
Boatswain  Sound  by  Cape  Ramsay,  a  large  barnacle-goose  flew 
above  our  heads,  circled  for  awhile  round  us,  and,  to  our  great 
surprise,  flew  down  a  short  distance  in  front  of  the  dogs  within 
easy  shooting  distance.  It  had,  of  course,  to  pay  with  its  life 
for  its  curiosity,  and  it  provided  us  with  a  delicious  midsummer- 
night  roast,  broiled  in  blubber  according  to  the  rules  of  the  art. 
The  day's  journey  ended  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  by  Low 
Point,  where  once  more  for  a  few  hours  we  let  ourselves  be 
teased  by  the  seal,  which  apparently  had  its  fixed  quarters  here. 
Forced  by  necessity,  we  decided,  after  repeated  attempts,  to 
leave  it  in  peace.  The  distance  made  during  the  day  was 
24  kilometres. 

June  25th-26th. — The  first  thoughts  which  occur  to  one  on 
waking  up  are  connected  with  the  ice  and  the  going  which  it 
will  provide.  We  were  now  in  the  midst  of  such  a  tedious 
grind  that  for  the  first  hours  of  the  day's  journey  we  could  not 
avoid  slow-going.  Involuntarily  we  started  slowly — one  had  to 
save  one's  strength  !  But  as  a  rule  the  stiffness  of  the  limbsquickly 
disappeared  and  the  journey  was  finished  with  a  firm  step. 

The  snow  was  quicklv  melting  along  the  coast ;  great  pools 

m 


GREENLAND   BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

lay  below  the  ice-foot,  and  the  water  had  already  begun  to  find 
outlets  in  the  fissures  which  were  being  formed  off  the  coast. 

By  Cape  Bennett  we  found  a  tumbledown  beacon,  where 
another  letter  from  Lockwood  had  been  deposited .  A  short  greet- 
ing to  other  coastal  travellers  had  been  scribbled,  probably  during 
a  coffee-halt ;  otherwise  the  note  contained  nothing  remarkable. 

After  twelve  hours  of  a  dead-march  through  heavy  snow 
with  water  beneath,  we  reached  Cape  Neumeyer,  having 
covered  a  distance  of  30  kilometres. 

Once  more  fog  and  rain  forced  us  to  lie  over,  and  in  order 
to  suffer  as  little  as  possible  from  the  bad  state  of  the  ground, 
we  covered  our  skis  and  the  over-runners  of  our  sledges  with 
sealskin,  which  slips  easily  across  the  wet  snow. 

BY  THE  FLESH-POTS 

June  27th. — The  Eskimos  say  that  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean  lives  an  old  hag  who  rules  over  all  aquatic  animals.  The 
history  of  her  life  is  involved  and  circumstantial.  Originally 
she  was  married  to  a  storm-bird  in  human  likeness,  but  on  a 
voyage,  when  the  travellers  were  on  the  point  of  being  wrecked 
and  were  of  the  opinion  that  her  husband  was  the  cause  of  the 
storm,  she  was  thrown  overboard.  As  she  tried  to  cling  to  the 
gunwale  of  the  boat,  her  hands  were  chopped  off,  whereafter 
she  sank  to  the  bottom.  At  the  bottom  of  the  sea  she  developed 
peculiar  and  great  qualities,  which  made  her  the  ruler  of  all 
aquatic  creatures.  She  got  a  small  house  where  she  lived  ac- 
cording to  human  customs,  happily  and  in  abundance.  But  her 
handless  stumps  of  arms  made  it  impossible  for  her  to  comb  her 
hair  or  to  free  herself  from  vermin.  The  wise  men  among  the 
humans  had  to  assist  her  in  this  work  by  spirit  journeys  to  the 
bottom  of  the  sea.  In  her  gratitude  she  sent  huge  shoals  of 
animals  to  the  sealing-grounds,  so  that  the  camp  which  had  sent 
its  necromancer  down  to  her  grew  rich.  She  was  given  the 
name  of  "  The  Great  Flesh-pot." 

Although  none  of  us  were  in  the  possession  of  qualities  which 
permit  one  to  make  a  spirit  journey  down  to  the  source  of  all 
abundance,  Ajako  was  of  the  opinion  that  somehow  the  woman 
158 


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PS 
o 


DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR 

favoured  us  ;  tor  after  some  hours  of  toilsome  travelling  through 
snow  and  water,  we  skirted  a  little  low  headland  where  we  were 
literally  stranded,  because  none  of  us  could  manage  any  more. 
We  climbed  the  mountains  so  as  to  view  the  neighbourhood, 
and  there  we  discovered  to  our  surprise  that  some  seals  were 
lying  outside  our  accidental  camp.  It  was  the  first  time  such 
fortune  had  smiled  on  us,  for  the  seals  we  had  caught  up  to  now 
were  solitary  animals.  We  immediately  tried  hunting,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  few  hours  we  had  shot  three  big,  fat  seals.  Now 
was  our  opportunity  to  feed  without  stint,  and  the  dogs  soon 
lay  with  distended  stomachs  struggling  for  breath  out  of  sheer 
satiety.  In  addition  the  generous  land,  which  is  called  Blue 
Point,  presented  us  with  three  hares  and  some  ptarmigan. 

We  consistently  continued  our  fattening  cure.  It  would 
be  of  no  avail  to  continue  hunting,  as  we  could  not  transport 
any  more  through  the  difficult  snow  ;  but  we  looked  upon  our 
future  fate  with  confidence.  In  happy  gratitude  we  erected  a 
memorial  to  the  old  Eskimo  myth  bv  calling  this  strip  of  land 
"The  Flesh-pot." 

In  the  baking  sun  nobody  could  be  bothered  to  pitch  the 
tent.  We  spread  our  sleeping-skins  across  some  oblong  hollows 
which,  filled  with  cassiope,  provided  the  softest  of  beds  for 
weary  bodies.  We  only  managed  to  smoke  our  pipes  before  we 
dropped  to  sleep.  A  flock  of  ptarmigan  settled  down  cackling 
near  the  sledges,  but  no  one  had  any  thought  of  killing. 

WE   MEET   OUR   COMRADES 

June  28th. — Ever  since  we  left  de  Long  Fjord  our  thoughts 
had  constantly  been  occupied  with  the  fate  of  our  comrades  ;  their 
train  of  tottering  starved  men  and  dogs  had  been  a  cheerless 
sight.  If  they  did  not  soon  meet  with  good  hunting  they  would 
probably  lose  all  their  dogs,  and  this  would  be  an  additional 
difficulty  for  the  return  journey. 

It  was  close  to  this  camp  that  we  had  last  met  them,  and, 
as  the  decision  was  that  they  should  make  for  the  whirlpool  and 
attempt  to  catch  seals  there,  we  expected  to  find  a  message  from 
them  somewhere  in  the  vicinity.  But  we  vainly  examined  all  con- 

159 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR   SEA 

spicuous  points  in  the  hope  of  finding  beacons,  and  as  we  found 
nothing,  we  began  to  believe  that  they  were  yet  in  the  fjord. 

We  then  made  for  Cape  Salor  through  heavy  going,  making 
very  slow  pace  with  our  overfed  dogs  and  meat-laden  sledges. 
As  usual,  the  snow  was  soft  and  wet ;  the  skis  carried  us,  but 
the  dogs  sank  through,  and  generally  we  found  water  under  the 
snow.  Koch  walked  a  short  distance  ahead  on  snowshoes,  and 
we  others  followed  with  sledges  and  dogs.  But  as  he  approached 
Cape  Salor  he  put  on  greater  and  greater  speed,  and  we  who 
followed  in  his  tracks  could  see  that  his  steps  became  in- 
creasingly longer.  At  length,  a  few  kilometres  further  ahead, 
we  discovered  the  reason  for  this  sudden  hurry,  as  our  comrades' 
tent  suddenly  appeared  on  the  utmost  headland  of  Elison 
Island.  We  also  increased  our  speed,  and  off  we  ploughed 
through  snow  and  water.  With  beating  hearts  we  floundered 
through  the  slush ;  even  the  dogs  caught  our  eagerness  and 
increased  their  pace.  What  news  would  we  find  ?  Were  they 
yet  in  possession  of  the  dogs?  Or  were  we  confronted  with  a 
journey  of  1,000  kilometres  with  three  sledges? 

Under  these  isolated  conditions,  in  the  large  silent  fjords, 
so  far  from  other  men,  one  forms  a  society  of  one's  own,  where 
even  the  smallest  occurrence  attracts  one's  attention  and  be- 
comes significant. 

No  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  news  we  were  now  racing 
towards,  and  which  would  be  so  decisive  for  our  arrangements, 
made  us  impatient  and  nervous.  For  no  life  was  apparent 
round  the  tent,  although  it  was  our  custom,  whenever  we  had 
been  separated  for  a  few  days,  to  celebrate  the  reunion  with 
shouts  and  merry  gestures.  At  long  last  we  were  relieved  as 
a  man  appeared  outside  the  tent,  flinging  his  arms  out  with  joy 
over  our  arrival.  Shouts  would  reach  him.  We  stopped  and 
for  a  moment  there  was  a  breathless  silence. 

' '  How  are  you  ? ' ' 

"All  well." 

"  How  many  dogs  have  you  left?" 

"Nine." 

"Have  you  food?" 
160 


DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR 

"  Harrigan  has  shot  six  seals  !" 

Rejoicings  and  confusion  of  reunion  ! 

June  29th. — At  last  a  day  arrived  when  we  could  take  mat- 
ters easy ;  we  were  not  entirely  inactive,  though  it  would  have 
been  better  for  the  dogs  merely  to  lie  in  the  sunshine  digesting 
in  a  semi-conscious  state.  Two  seals  shot  by  Harrigan  were 
fetched  from  the  mouth  of  I.  P.  Koch  Fjord,  and  another  was 
lying  on  the  ice  off  Cape  Salor  at  a  distance  of  about  4  kilo- 
metres from  land.  In  the  midst  of  the  pack-ice,  young  ice  was 
lying  by  a  rather  considerable  whirlpool,  looking  strangely  lost 
between  the  massive  pressure-ridges. 

June  30th. — It  would  have  been  tempting  to  remain  here 
for  some  time  yet,  as  the  Flesh-pot  situated  not  far  away  seemed 
to  offer  good  seal-hunting.  But  we  dared  not  postpone  the 
journey  down  to  St.  George  Fjord  ;  a  sojourn  on  this  spot 
might  be  of  immediate  significance  as  a  fattening  period  for 
the  dogs  and  ourselves,  but  to  freight  a  considerable  load  with 
the  snow  in  this  state  was  unthinkable.  Furthermore,  after 
the  experiences  of  the  past  few  days,  we  were  sure  to  run  across 
those  seals,  of  which  we  have  so  often  spoken,  by  Dragon  Point. 

We  started  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  but  already  by 
nine  o'clock  we  had  to  stop  on  a  floe  of  dry  ice  as  the  heat  of 
3°  (Cent.)  drove  the  perspiration  out  of  our  bodies  so  forcibly 
that  all  our  pores  hurt ;  simultaneously  we  were  so  fagged  out 
by  the  melting  slush  and  the  deep  water  that  it  would  not  be 
to  our  advantage  if  we  made  longer  journeys  at  a  stretch. 

The  day's  journey  had  been  a  modest  one  :  the  odometer 
registered  8  kilometres. 

Twelve  hours  later,  after  the  cool  of  the  evening  had  set  in, 
we  ma^e  another  attempt.  We  found,  however,  that  going 
was  still  worse.  The  sledges  constantly  stuck  in  the  slush,  and 
when  the  dogs  gave  up  all  attempts  and  lay  down  quietly  looking 
at  us  with  their  sad  eyes,  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  but  put  all 
our  strength  into  getting  the  sledges  out  of  the  water- 
logged snow. 

Juhj  1st. — Out  of  consideration  for  the  dogs,  we  pitched 
our  tents  as  early  as  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Although  we 
r,  161 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

had  only  made  a  distance  of  10  kilometres,  we  were  all  weary 
and  fagged  out.  The  Eskimos  call  this  state  of  the  ground 
"  putsineq."  The  weather  was  uncommonly  beautiful ;  glori- 
ous colours,  blue  and  reddish,  rested  on  Nordenskjold  Fjord's 
wonderful  landscape.  For  the  first  time  we  looked  at  this  fjord 
approximately  from  the  point  from  which  Peary  previously 
observed  it ;  and  we  realized  why  it  was  that,  with  this  view, 
he  assumed  it  to  be  the  inlet  of  an  enormous  channel  stretching 
right  to  Independence  Fjord.  From  this  point  one  sees  only 
the  coast  mountains  out  by  the  mouth  which  forms  the  entrance 
to  the  channel.  The  end  of  the  fjord  is  not  at  all  visible,  as  the 
inland-iee  which  finishes  the  fjord  merges  entirely  into  the  ocean- 
ice,  which  thus  seems  to  stretch  infinitely  inward.  Some  backs 
of  Nunatak,  which  from  the  fjord  itself  we  discern  far  in  on  the 
inland-ice,  appear  deceptively  from  this  point  to  be  a  continua- 
tion of  the  coast  mountains,  and  it  has  thus  seemed  obvious  to 
connect  this  with  the  fjord  on  the  east  side.  We  looked  across 
the  beautiful  landscape  towards  Elison  Island,  which,  bathed  in 
sun  and  with  the  clear  sky  above  its  sharp  silhouette,  breathed 
a  peace  and  quietness  far  removed  from  the  disturbance  which, 
a  few  hours  ago,  we  made  by  our  progress.  The  air  was  then 
reverberating  with  incessant  and  desperate  shouts  to  the  dogs, 
now  raging,  now  coaxing  ;  whilst  the  animals  gave  up  entirely 
and  could  hardly  be  forced  through  the  last  piece  of  slush  on  to 
the  little  island  where  the  rest  and  the  well-deserved  strong  food 
awaited  them. 

We  pitched  our  tent  on  an  insignificant  little  flat  island 
which  we  called  "  Centrum  Island,"  as  during  the  following 
days  it  formed  the  centre  for  the  cartographical  station  in  this 
fjord-complex. 

July  2nd. — Wulff's  party,  which  had  chosen  a  somewhat 
different  route  from  Cape  Salor,  arrived  to-day  at  noon.  Un- 
fortunately they  had  lost  a  dog  on  the  way  ;  it  fell  down,  unable 
to  travel  any  further.  We  now  had  twenty  dogs  left,  and  these 
were  sufficient  for  the  homeward  journey  if  only  we  succeeded 
in  keeping  them  in  good  condition  by  plentiful  feeding. 

Ajako  and  Bosun  were  for  the  time  being  sent  to  the  mouth 
162 


DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR 

of  Nordenskjold  Fjord,  where  on  the  outward  journey  we 
cached  some  clothes  and  other  property  which  was  not  required 
for  the  journey  ;  they  returned  at  midnight  with  a  hunting-bag 
of  eight  hares  and  one  ptarmigan.  At  the  same  time  Harrigan 
shot  a  seal  a  short  distance  from  our  tent,  so  that  conditions  for 
acquiring  food  now  seem  promising. 

During  camp-life  a  fire,  crackling  and  sparkling  and  with 
smoke  which  rises  straight  in  the  air,  is  the  thing  which  most 
tenderly  attunes  one's  feelings.  One  understands  the  offerings 
of  the  ancients  when,  with  the  holy  fire  and  smoke,  they  sent 
their  message  up  in  the  air  towards  all  that  which  they  did  not 
understand.  But  though  we  have  become  less  naive,  we 
cannot  get  away  from  the  worship  of  nature  which  this  atmo- 
sphere forces  on  to  us.  Our  mind  is  moved  ;  in  our  thoughts  we 
write  poems,  some  light  and  happy,  others  heavy  and  sad  ;  but, 
wherever  inspiration  may  lead  us,  something  is  roused  in  our 
inmost  being,  created  by  the  fire.  And  not  least  in  nature  like 
this,  where  one  stands  as  a  puny  being,  forced  to  fight  a  daily 
battle  against  forces  stronger  than  oneself.  Life  always  seems 
to  hang  by  a  thread,  because  the  day's  coming  events  are  so  un- 
certain and  so  far  beyond  one's  own  control ;  and  this  it  is  which, 
more  than  the  many  intensive  joys  one  experiences,  stamps 
one's  thoughts  and  feelings  up  here. 

A  strange  country  !  We  are  now  in  the  month  of  July,  but, 
notwithstanding  this,  large  expanses  are  yet  covered  with  snow 
to  such  an  extent  that  one  prefers  to  move  about  on  snowshoes 
or  skis.  The  flowers  are  not  merely  patient,  they  even  put 
all  their  strength  in  opposition  to  their  mortal  enemy,  and  grow 
and  blossom  in  many  places  in  the  midst  of  the  snow. 

A  large  country,  which  seems  doubly  large  to  him  who  must 
struggle  forth  along  its  coasts,  with  open  and  wide  horizons 
which  through  fjords  and  bays  run  up  across  the  inland-ice  to 
meet  the  sky  in  a  dazzling  distancy  which  makes  one's  eyes  ache. 
Steep,  reddish-brown  cliffs  shoot  up  from  the  sea  as  blockading 
walls,  desirous  of  restricting  the  view  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the 
mountains'  barrenness,  the  sun  splashes  its  colours  so  that  the 

163 


GREENLAND    BY    THE   POLAR    SEA 

poverty  is  ennobled  and  becomes  the  work  of  the  great  light  - 
bringer. 

A  land  without  a  heart,  where  everything  living  must  fight 
a  hard  battle  for  life  and  food.  Like  a  frozen  expanse  of  cold 
and  waste,  the  Polar  Sea  presses  itself  up  above  the  shores  to 
meet  its  brother  the  inland-ice,  who  threatens  the  last  land  from 
the  inner  deserts.  The  poor  seals  coming  from  the  living  ocean 
occasionally  find  their  way  up  on  the  ice,  but  everywhere  they 
are  frightened  by  the  giant  mill  of  the  pressure-ice,  and  they 
rush  down  in  the  deep  again  before  they  have  had  time  to  enjoy 
the  sky  and  the  sun.  Down  there  they  become  lean,  their  layer 
of  blubber  becomes  thin,  they  must  fight  against  the  cold  which 
the  fat  ones  do  not  notice ;  and  the  mighty  vault  above  the 
ocean  passages  separates  them  from  their  friends,  so  that  they 
are  banished  to  the  dead  loneliness. 

Now  and  then  the  ice-bear  plants  his  paws  on  the  snow  of 
the  shore-ice,  but  the  tracks  show  that  he  walks  with  feet  turned 
inward  and  with  pinched  belly,  distrustful  of  the  ice  which  is 
stronger  than  he  himself,  and  with  no  inducement  to  visit  the 
valley  tracts,  which  are  too  poor  to  offer  him  a  meal.  Only  the 
musk-ox  and  the  little  lemming,  which  is  the  incarnation  of 
easy  contentment,  thrive  and  grow  fat,  together  with  the  hares, 
whose  teeth  and  digestion  are  satisfied  with  frozen  little  plants. 
Amidst  these  the  slim  ermine,  like  a  bunch  of  living  muscles,, 
stalks  hares  and  lemmings ;  rich,  fat  and  strong  it  is,  quite 
unconcerned  with  the  poverty  of  the  country  because  it  lets  the 
little  vegetarians  work  for  it.  It  is  the  good  beast  of  prey  of 
the  region,  because  it  is  open  in  its  animosity  ;  thus  it  becomes 
a  happy  and  sympathetic  animal  in  spite  of  its  blood-smeared 
jaws.  Behind  it  sneaks  the  white  wolf,  which  is  always  hungry 
and  thin,  although  it  seeks  its  food  on  the  same  hunting- 
ground  :  cowardly  and  wretched,  with  lowered  tail  and  the  fever 
of  an  evil  conscience  in  its  eyes — more  of  a  hyena  than  a  hunter. 

Behind  the  lives  of  all  these  animals  lies  a  miracle,  the  miracle 
of  the  country  and  the  vegetation  ;  for  in  this  one  month  during 
which  the  sun  rules,  grows  the  mean  vegetation  which  creates 
animal  life.  Without  these  stunted  children  of  the  sun,  there. 
164 


DE  LONG  FJORD  TO  CAPE  SALOR 

would  be  no  musk-ox,  no  lemming,  no  hare  ;  and  without  these, 
again,  no  ermine,  no  wolf — just  a  cemetery  where  only  the 
silence  of  death  broods. 

From  our  flat  camp-ground  we  had  an  excellent  view  of 
Nordenskjold  Inlet.  Our  thoughts  took  their  own  way  in  across 
the  inland-ice  at  its  narrowest  point  to  Independence  Fjord. 
From  here  it  was  that  Mylius-Erichsen,  Hagen,  and  Bronlund 
were  the  first  men  to  view  the  head  of  the  fjord  which  overthrew 
the  whole  theory  of  the  Peary  Channel ;  and  even  if  they  did 
not  succeed  in  mapping  their  discovery,  they  laid  down  a  report 
in  a  beacon  with  full  information  as  to  what  they  had  seen.  The 
tragedy  which  struck  them  down  on  their  homeward  journey, 
when  they  were  forced  to  spend  the  summer  in  a  place  in  Den- 
mark Fjord,  poor  in  game,  is  too  well  known  for  me  to  repeat. 
Suffice  it  to  mention  the  heroic  task  which  Jorgen  Bronlund 
accomplished,  when  from  the  depot  in  Lambert  Land  he  fetched 
food  for  his  two  comrades  who  could  keep  up  no  longer — a 
sacrifice  which  was  not  destined  to  save  their  lives.  When, 
later  on,  after  the  death  of  Mylius-Erichsen  and  Hagen, 
Bronlund  once  more  struggled  along  to  Lambert  Depot  to 
deposit  the  scientific  results  in  a  spot  where  they  would  be 
found,  he  wrote  his  own  and  his  camp  comrades'  death-rune  on 
the  leaf  of  his  diary  with  the  proud  words  : 

"  Skirted  79-Fjord  after  attempt  return  journey  across  inland 
ice  in  November  month.  I  arrived  here  in  waning  moonshine 
and  could  not  continue  because  of  the  darkness  and  of  frost-bites 
to  my  feet.  The  corpses  of  the  others  will  be  found  in  the 
middle  of  the  fjord  in  front  of  glacier.  Hagen  died  10th  Novem- 
ber and  Mylius  about  ten  days  later." 

The  concluding  work  of  charting  the  head  of  Independence 
Fjord  and  its  near  surroundings  was  executed  by  the  first  Thule 
Expedition,  when  Peter  Freuchen  was  cartographer.  In 
memory  of  his  contribution  towards  the  exploration  of  the 
northernmost  Greenland,  we  named  the  great  expanse  between 
I.  P.  Koch  Fjord  and  Nordenskjold  Fjord,  Peter  Freuchen 
Land.  165 


CHAPTER  IX 
ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

ICE-WATER   BATHS 

JULY  3rd-14th. — After  two  fickle  months  the  weather  at 
last  settled  down,  a  change  which  apparently  will  last 
through  this  month,  fortunately  for  us  !  For  after  every., 
day's  journey,  during  which  with  great  toil  we  cover  a  modest 
distance  of  15  to  16  kilometres  in  twelve  to  eighteen  hours,  all 
our  clothes  and  goods  need  a  good  drying,  and  this  could  not  be 
managed  if  the  good  sun  did  not  during  our  nightly  sleep  once 
more  make  serviceable  everything  which  the  distracting  summer 
conditions  of  the  ice  destroys  for  us. 

The  journey  goes  through  ice-water,  and  it  is  only  occasion- 
ally that  we  have  an  opportunity  of  a  moment's  rest  on  "  dry 
ice."  The  warmth  has  converted  the  rough  Polar-ice  into  a 
hopeless  system  of  channels  and  pools,  where  from  occasional 
blocks  push  up  as  islands  in  a  huge  swamp  of  ice.  In  the  begin- 
ning we  sought  obstinately  for  the  best  places  where  a  zigzag 
advance  was  possible ;  but  this  method  has  been  given  up  long 
ago,  for  everything  is  wet  through  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts.  All 
through  the  day  we  wade  up  to  our  knees  in  the  ice-water,  and, 
whilst  we  get  wet  through  to  our  waists  under  the  work  with  the 
sledges,  which  constantly  get  stuck  in  the  holes,  the  same  fate 
overtakes  our  reserve  clothes.  First  the  water  pours  over  the 
sledges  in  front,  then  behind,  according  to  the  different  posi- 
tions it  occupies  in  the  melted  hollows. 

We  have  crawled  in  this  way  for  three  days — from  Centrum 
Island  to  McMillan  Valley  by  the  mouth  of  Victoria  Fjord — 
a  three-days-long  bath  in  the  cold  water,  often  covered  thinly 
by  new  ice  which  cuts  the  paws  of  the  dogs  as  it  breaks  into 
166 


THE    SLEDOE    BEING    SUCKED    DOWN    BY    TUB    WATER    UNDER    THE    SNOW 


ON    THE    LOOK-OUT    FOR    MUSK  OX 


ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

knife-edged  fragments.  The  eold  water  takes  it  out  of  those 
of  the  dogs  which  have  not  yet  quite  recovered  from  their  period 
of  starvation ;  to  our  great  sorrow,  we  have  had  to  leave  one 
dog  which  was  so  exhausted  that  it  fell  down  unable  to  get 
up  again. 

When  neither  we  nor  the  dogs  could  move  a  step  further, 
we  select  an  ice-island  and  pitch  our  tent  on  it.  A  place  like 
this  can  never  be  an  ideal  spot  for  a  tent,  but  there  is  the 
comfort  that  one  need  not  trouble  to  go  far  to  fetch  the  water 
one  needs  for  cooking.  One  merely  opens  the  tent-flap  slightly 
and  fills  kettle  and  pan. 

Under  these  somewhat  cheerless  conditions,  Koch  celebrated 
his  twenty-fifth  birthday.  We  hoisted  the  flags,  both  the 
Danish  and  the  Swedish,  and  made  an  extra  cup  of  strong 
coffee.  Each  of  us  then  presented  the  hero  of  the  day  with  a 
few  lumps  of  icing  sugar — a  much  appreciated  and,  at  present, 
exceedingly  valuable  article.  The  last  of  the  store  of  this  sugar 
put  aside  for  the  homeward  journey  across  the  inland-ice  has 
been  distributed  in  rations  and  everybody  watches  as  a  beast  of 
prey  over  his  modest  share.  We  might  have  had  a  feast,  but  I 
sheered  off  from  the  festive  feelings  of  the  moment  for  rational 
reasons.  We  are  the  possessors  of  delicious  pemmican,  oats 
and  biscuits  ;  but  these  delicacies  must  only  be  touched  when 
the  journey  on  the  inland-ice  commences.  In  that  desert  we 
shall  require  all  dietetic  stimulants.  In  spite  of  temptation,  I 
therefore  hardened  my  heart  and  contented  myself  by  cooking 
double  rations  of  seal  meat,  and,  at  the  same  time,  I  promised 
faithfully  to  celebrate  the  day  when,  on  the  return  journey,  we 
had  reached  to  a  height  of  2,000  metres  on  the  inland-ice. 

The  short  and  slow  daily  journeys  benefited  the  carto- 
grapher, who  took  latitudes  and  longitudes,  sighting  all  the 
more  conspicuous  points  as  often  as  occasion  permitted. 

During  a  halt,  approximately  13  kilometres  from  McMillan 
Valley,  the  coast  was  carefully  surveyed  with  the  glasses.  We 
looked  for  hares,  which  were  now  visible  far  away  as  tiny  white 
dots.  Our  store  of  meat  was  finished  and  we  found  no  seals  on 
this  bad  water-filled  ice.     Bosun  and  I  were  somewhat  behind, 

167 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

engaged  in  lashing  our  sledge  afresh.  As  is  well  known,  all 
transoms  are  tied  to  the  runners  with  leather  straps,  and  when 
these  are  immersed  in  water  too  long,  they  soften  and  give  so 
that  the  lashings  loosen  and  the  whole  sledge  falls  to  pieces — as 
a  rule,  of  course,  where  the  water  is  deepest !  To  lash  a  sledge 
takes  an  hour's  time  and  is  laborious  and  tedious  work,  especi- 
ally so  when  the  hands  are  numb. 

Whilst  we  were  bent  over  the  unloaded  sledge,  and  strug- 
gled to  tighten  the  wet  straps,  which  were  difficult  to  handle, 
new  life  was  suddenly  put  into  the  crowd  ahead.  They  had 
been  lying  tired  and  dead  on  the  sledges,  but  now  they  began 
to  jump  about  like  mad,  and  both  Harrigan  and  Ajako  ran  far 
out  to  the  side,  jumped  high  into  the  air,  flung  their  arms  about 
and  slapped  their  thighs,  all  of  which  are  Eskimo  signs  of  some 
unusual  happening. 

Bosun  and  I  looked  at  each  other  for  a  moment  incredu- 
lously, without  saying  a  word  ;  for  this  could  mean  one  thing 
only.  But  as  we  stood  there  staring,  not  quite  daring  to  believe 
that  for  which  we  had  hoped  more  than  anything  else,  Bosun 
sensibly  delivered  himself  of  the  relieving  sentence  : 

• '  One  does  not  cheat  hungry  and  wet  comrades  who  are 
toiling  ahead  through  the  water  !" 

In  the  same  moment  we  both  gave  vent  to  a  bellowing  shout : 

"Musk-oxen!" 

The  sledge  was  finished  in  a  twinkling,  and  as  rapidly  as  the 
bad  going  permitted  we  were  up  on  the  ice  after  our  comrades. 

All  faces  beamed ;  what  we  had  guessed  was  really  true. 
We  ourselves  took  the  glasses  to  see.  Off  a  small  glacier  tongue 
in  McMillan  Valley,  on  a  ridge  towards  our  old  spring  camp, 
a  herd  of  grazing  musk-oxen  was  plainly  visible. 

We  embraced  each  other  and  behaved  like  lunatics.  No 
dignity  here !  For  what  we  saw  meant  not  merely  food  in 
plenty  for  ourselves  and  the  dogs,  but  also  implied  rest  and 
drying  of  our  clothes  for  some  days  in  the  beautiful  valley,  which 
must  now  be  in  its  full  summer  garments. 

With  great  difficulty  we  covered  the  last  piece  of  the  way ; 
under  favourable  conditions  it  would  have  been  done  in  an  hour, 
168 


ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

now  it  took  seven,  before  at  last  we  beached  with  dripping 
clothes  after  a  thorough  bath  of  thirteen  hours'  duration. 

I  arrived  an  hour  after  the  others,  as  the  sledge  for  the 
second  time  during  the  day  had  fallen  to  pieces  and  had  to  be 
lashed  afresh.  My  comrades  had  already  pulled  off  their  wet 
clothes  and  were  taking  sun-baths  stark  naked  on  a  small  grassy 
slope.  And  surely  this  was  necessary,  for  we  were  red  and 
wrinkled  right  up  to  our  waists  just  as  if  for  a  long  time  we  had 
been  in  soak.  The  temperature  here  on  land  was  perfectly 
tropical,  showing  5°  (Cent.). 

I  was  hoarse  with  shouting  to  the  dogs,  which  for  the  last 
stretch  had  been  almost  impossible  to  drive  through  the  water ; 
and  Dr.  Wulff  came  smilingly  towards  me  and  told  me  that 
during  the  hour  whilst  they  had  been  waiting  for  me,  he  had 
experienced  the  truth  of  the  word  of  the  holy  Augustine  : 
"That  the  joy  of  the  blessed  consists  not  merely  in  knowing 
oneself  to  be  on  the  right  side,  but  also,  and  that  not  least,  in 
the  constant  listening  to  the  despairing  cries  of  the  damned." 
Thus  they  on  land  had  felt  it,  after  having  fought  their  way  to 
the  right  side,  when  they  heard  me  out  in  the  slush  alternately 
yammering  and  raging  at  the  dogs  ! 

We  were  all  hungry  as  wolves  and  therefore  voted  for  an 
immediate  hunt.  So  we  went  across  the  land,  taking  all  the 
dogs  with  us.  Unfortunately,  we  were  stopped  about  half  an 
hour  later  by  a  flood-like  river  about  400  metres  broad,  and  after 
having  made  several  desperate  attempts  to  ford  it  we  had  to 
postpone  the  hunt  until  the  following  day,  as  the  river  could 
only  be  passed  some  distance  seaward  out  on  the  ice.  In  spite 
of  our  hunger  and  murderous  instincts,  not  one  of  us  was  to-day 
in  possession  of  sufficient  courage  to  cross  this  ice  just  as  we 
had  reached  land. 

To  stave  off  the  hunger,  we  arranged  a  hare-hunt,  which 
gave  an  excellent  result.  In  the  course  of  a  couple  of  hours  no 
less  than  eight  of  the  little  white-clad  animals  had  to  lay  down 
their  lives,  and  a  temporary  camp  was  made  so  that  we  might 
have  a  little  rest  before  the  musk-ox  hunting  started  in  earnest. 

169 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

The  wet  clothes  were  spread  out  to  dry,  and  we  dozed  off 
half  naked  in  the  most  varied  postures,  not  unlike  a  horde  of 
Serbian  refugees,  with  all  our  earthly  property  distributed 
about  us. 

After  five  short  hours  of  rest  we  again  went  seaward  on  the 
ice,  navigating  between  and  through  a  complex  of  deep  chan- 
nels by  the  mouth  of  the  great  river,  it  being  our  intention  to 
attempt  a  landing  a  few  kilometres  due  east  of  the  main  course. 
The  ice  here  was  particularly  bad  to  walk  on  ;  the  whole  surface 
was  so  far  melted  that  everywhere  it  had  taken  on  the  character 
of  an  expanse  with  thousands  of  nails  side  by  side  turning  their 
points  upward.  The  tracks  of  the  dogs  were  red  with  blood 
after  the  many  awls  which  found  their  way  into  the  pads  of 
their  paws,  and  even  we  men  felt  the  pain  through  our  soaked 
boots.  With  a  feeling  of  relief  we  at  length  reached  land  and 
pitched  our  tent  in  a  small  sheltered  cove  by  a  kindly  bubbling 
brook.  Sledges  and  goods  were  deposited  up  on  land,  and  as 
soon  as  all  our  wet  clothes  had  been  put  out  on  the  cliffs  to  dry, 
we  took  the  course  up  a  mountain  and  into  the  valley  where 
yesterday  we  had  seen  the  musk-oxen.  We  brought  all  the 
dogs  so  that  they  might  be  as  near  the  slaughter-ground  as 
possible. 

After  an  hour's  walk  we  got  a  view  across  a  low  ridge,  and 
hardly  had  I  had  time  to  examine  the  surrounding  district  when 
instantly  and  simultaneously  we  all  gave  a  start.  A  little  more 
than  100  metres  from  us  five  musk-oxen  were  peacefully  graz- 
ing, unsuspicious  of  the  beasts  of  prey  who  had  been  counting 
on  their  death  for  the  last  twenty-four  hours.  All  the  dogs 
with  the  exception  of  two  were  carefully  tied  to  some  big  stones 
before  they  got  wind  of  this  fragrant  game.  For  if  the  dogs 
are  loosed  in  a  flock  on  a  musk-ox,  especially  if  they  are 
hungry,  they  will  as  a  rule  throw  themselves  so  recklessly  and 
greedily  over  their  prey,  that  one  runs  the  risk  of  having  them 
gored  ;  and  at  that  moment  we  certainly  could  not  afford  to 
lose  more  dogs.  We  therefore  contented  ourselves  with  taking 
the  two  poorest  ones,  and  walked  along  to  the  herd.  We 
170 


ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

divided  into  three  parties,  and  before  the  musk-oxen  had  dis- 
covered us,  we  stood  before  them  on  three  sides  as  if  shot  up 
from  the  ground. 

The  musk-oxen  lay  ruminating ;  they  now  arose  without 
haste  and  took  up  their  usual  fighting  position,  the  famous 
square  with  a  front  to  all  sides.  Thus  they  remained  standing 
without  making  the  slightest  attempt  at  flight,  whilst  we  on  our 
side  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  holding  back  the  two  wolf- 
dogs,  which  wanted  to  spring  on  to  them. 

There  were  five  bulls,  and  they  all  accepted  the  position 
with  dignified  calmness ;  their  great  shiny  eyes  stared  at  us 
without  fear,  and  they  contented  themselves  with  an  occa- 
sional almost  contemptuous  twist  of  the  corners  of  their 
mouths. 

To  us  they  seemed  phantastical  in  their  enormous  size,  be- 
cause for  such  a  long  time  we  had  been  used  to  the  sight  of  hares 
and  lemmings  only.  They  were  in  the  midst  of  shedding  their 
coats,  and  the  loose  wool,  which  appears  to  come  off  in  big 
cakes,  lay  across  the  manes  and  backs  as  bunches  of  mourning 
crepe.  Occasionally  they  breathed  deeply  through  their  enor- 
mous nostrils,  and  blew  wheezingly  out  into  the  air.  Then  they 
would,  as  if  in  impatience,  beat  a  hoof  against  the  soil  so  that 
small  stones  flew  about  our  ears.  Otherwise  they  remained 
quiet,  making  no  attempt  to  attack. 

As  the  rare  and  occasional  hunts  had  given  us  no  good  op- 
portunity for  photography,  all  the  three  of  us — Koch,  Wulff 
and  myself — took  our  position  and  snapped.  More  patient 
clients  no  photographer  could  have  wished  for,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  we  did  our  work  very  thoroughly.  We  took  them 
from  all  sides  and  angles,  from  a  distance  of  from  2  to  10  metres, 
profile,  full-face,  whole-figure,  half-length,  and  only  when  we 
had  finished  did  we  pass  sentence  of  death. 

First  we  made  an  attempt  to  drive  them  further  down  to- 
wards the  tent,  so  that  it  would  be  easier  for  us  to  carry  the  meat 
down  to  the  sea-ice.  We  went,  still  with  the  dogs  on  leash, 
close  up  and  began  to  throw  stones  at  them.  At  first  they 
seemed  surprised  and  indignant  over  this  treatment,   which 

171 


GREENLAND    BY   THE   POLAR   SEA 

appeared  to  them  most  unworthy ;  but  then  the  devil  took 
possession  of  them ! 

The  biggest  of  the  bulls,  apparently  the  leader,  suddenly 
stamped  his  hind  hoofs  so  hard  into  the  soil  that  a  rain  of  gravel 
and  stones  fell  over  us ;  then  he  let  out  a  bellow,  turned  right 
about  and  galloped  across  the  plain  with  the  remainder  of  the 
herd  behind  him. 

We  unleashed  the  dogs  immediately,  and  they  tore  after  the 
oxen ;  but  the  whole  proceeding  had  taken  place  with  such 
lightning  swiftness  that  the  bulls  had  got  a  good  start,  and  it 
took  the  dogs  some  time  to  draw  close  to  them.  We  ran  with 
all  speed,  so  as  to  be  near  and  ready  to  shoot  when  at  length  the 
drive  would  stop  on  the  top  of  a  hill  where  they  could  defend 
themselves  against  the  attack  of  the  dogs. 

But  things  did  not  work  out  according  to  plan.  The  bulls 
ran  for  dear  life,  and  they  made  such  a  pace  that  it  almost 
looked  as  if  they  were  blown  along  by  a  hurricane.  Right  out 
by  the  end  of  the  plain  the  foremost  of  my  dogs  succeeded  in 
overtaking  the  herd.  We  saw  it  attempt  to  bite  itself  fast  on 
to  the  hind  leg  of  the  rear  fighter ;  but  instead  of  stopping  at 
once,  collecting  its  comrades  in  a  square  and  receiving  the 
attack,  the  bull,  with  the  dog  yet  hanging  with  teeth  buried  in 
its  flesh,  was  content  to  turn  round  with  lightning  quickness, 
shake  the  dog  off,  scoop  it  with  its  horns  on  to  its  enormous 
neck,  and  fling  it  up  in  the  air  like  a  ball.  The  poor  dog  whirled 
round  and  crashed  heavilv  to  earth ;  its  courage  cost  it  its 
life. 

In  the  meantime  the  hunt  raged  on.  The  other  dog,  which 
was  an  old  and  experienced  bear-dog,  had  come  up  with  the 
fleeing  herd  and  succeeded  in  stopping  the  hindmost  ox  outside 
a  steep  high  cleft.  Ajako,  who  was  ahead  of  us  all,  rushed  up 
ready  to  shoot,  but  in  the  moment  he  raised  his  gun,  the  bull 
threw  itself  down  over  him  like  a  landslide,  paying  no  attention 
to  the  scolding  dog,  which  in  vain  tried  to  hold  it  back.  They 
disappeared  together  into  the  cleft,  and  I  only  saw  the  cloud  of 
sand  and  gravel  which  whirled  up  round  them.  I  rushed  up  as 
quickly  as  I  could,  and  to  my  great  joy  I  soon  heard  a  shot,  then 
172 


ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

another,  and  a  moment  later  I  myself  was  down  on  the  battle- 
ground. Ajako,  his  face  yet  aglow  with  excitement,  stood  by 
the  killed  bull,  whose  dreadful  and  sudden  attack  so  nearly  had 
cost  him  his  life. 

The  four  remaining  bulls  ran  in  close  formation  up  a  hill, 
where  they  passed  close  by  our  tethered  dogs.  These  rose  up 
and  commenced  an  infuriated  barking,  whereafter  the  bulls, 
obviously  bewildered  by  the  many  wolves,  once  more  changed 
their  direction  towards  the  river  to  the  south-west. 

One  duffer,  who  could  not  keep  up  with  the  others,  sepa- 
rated from  the  herd  and  galloped  towards  the  lake  where  we  had 
camped  during  the  spring.  After  a  hot  chase,  it  was  overtaken 
here  and  stopped  by  two  dogs  which  had  torn  themselves  loose. 
Whilst  they  held  it  Bosun  arrived  and  shot  it  down. 

The  remaining  three  gained  their  freedom  for  the  time  being, 
but  although  we  were  sure  that  it  was  only  a  matter  of  time 
when  we  should  find  them  again,  we  nevertheless  repented  too 
late  our  stone-throwing ;  for  it  would  surely  have  been  better 
for  the  transport  to  have  the  animals  collected  in  one  place. 
For  the  moment  we  had  to  be  contented  with  the  humour  of 
having  photographed  them  at  a  distance  of  a  few  metres,  and 
then  in  spite  of  our  need  for  meat,  to  lose  them  !  It  is  the  first 
time  during  my  many  musk-ox  hunts  that  I  have  seen  an 
attacked  herd  which  has  not  stopped  and  formed  square  after  a 
short  run,  to  meet  their  inevitable  death. 

The  two  musk-oxen  were  skinned ;  and  we  all  ate  fat  mar- 
row-bones until  we  were  in  that  peaceful  mood  which  follows  on 
a  good  meal.  We  could  not  deny  that  our  joy  was  mixed  with 
bitterness,  for  three  big,  lovely  animals  had  temporarily  escaped 
out  of  the  flock  which  we  had  reckoned  on  with  such  surety  as  a 
foundation  for  a  couple  of  restful  days  in  the  beautiful  and 
summerlike  McMillan  Valley. 

We  were  all  agreed  that  something  must  be  done  ;  both  we 
and  the  dogs  needed  a  rest  before  we  had  to  wade  on  across  the 
broad  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord.  In  the  meantime  we  had  al- 
ready had  a  turn  of  over  thirty  hours  under  very  severe  condi- 

173 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

tions  ;  then,  after  a  few  hours  of  sleep,  we  had  again  been  keenly 
active  for  rather  more  than  fourteen  hours  ;  nevertheless,  it  was 
desirable  that  the  hunt  of  the  three  musk-oxen  should  be  con- 
tinued at  once,  before  they  got  too  far  away. 

We  were  all  sleepy  and  tired.  Whilst  in  the  cleft  the  last 
meal  was  cooking,  one  after  another  drooped  down  and  slept. 
The  many  days'  bath  in  the  cold  ice- water  had  not  passed  over 
us  without  leaving  its  mark  ;  some  of  us  had  in  a  most  uncom- 
fortable way  lost  the  powers  of  the  knee-muscles,  and  to-day 
especially  Harrigan  and  I  had  sunk  to  our  knees  time  after  time 
during  the  musk-ox  hunt  when  we  ran  down  the  slopes,  for  we 
had  no  strength  in  the  muscles  of  our  legs. 

Under  these  conditions  there  was  only  one  man  on  whom 
I  could  count,  and  that  was  the  best  and  indefatigable  hunter, 
Ajako.  Time  after  time  I  have  had  the  opportunity  to  empha- 
size his  invaluable  qualities  for  a  voyage  like  this ;  his  splendid 
physique,  his  endurance,  his  never-failing  hunter's  instinct.  He 
it  was  who  shot  the  first  musk-ox  at  a  time  when  the  position 
began  to  be  critical  for  the  dogs ;  he  it  was  who  caught  the  first 
seals  by  the  whirlpool  and  saved  the  rest  of  our  team ;  and, 
finally,  it  was  he  who  in  the  midst  of  the  Polar  pack-ice  off  Cape 
Neumeyer  got  the  seal  which  secured  the  voyage  to  de  Long 
Fjord.  Therefore  it  was  also  this  man  whom  I  suggested  should 
continue  the  hunt  at  a  time  when  the  rest  of  us  had  to  give  in 
because  of  overstrain ;  and  the  hunting  excursion  he  was  to 
undertake  would  take  at  least  another  fourteen  hours.  Ajako 
accepted  my  proposal  with  a  smile  :  oh  yes,  it  had  been  his  own 
opinion  the  whole  time  that  it  would  be  better  to  continue  the 
hunt  at  once  ;  thus  the  matter  was  settled.  As  soon  as  the  con- 
tents of  the  pan  were  cooked,  we  turned  out  on  a  big  flat  stone 
delicious  pieces  of  tongues  and  hearts,  floating  in  fat,  and  had 
our  meal  together.  Then  Ajako  seized  his  gun,  loosened  the 
dog  which  usually  followed  him  on  all  his  hunting  excursions, 
and  disappeared  behind  the  nearest  ridge,  light  and  supple,  as  if 
he  had  just  got  up  from  a  long  and  refreshing  rest.  Over  his 
walk  and  all  his  being  rested  a  beauty  which  only  youth  and 
strength  gives. 
174 


ACltOSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

Twelve  hours  later  Ajako  returned  to  the  tent  tottering  with 
sleepiness.  Not  only  had  he  found  and  shot  the  three  oxen 
which  had  tried  to  escape  :  he  had  also  shot  another  three.  Ail 
the  animals  were  skinned  and  cut  up,  and  the  meat  had  been  laid 
out  in  the  sun  to  dry,  so  that  it  might  not  be  destroyed  by  the 
bluebottles  which  shoot  up  from  the  soil  everywhere  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  piece  of  meat. 

To  these  good  tidings  he  added  smilingly  that  he  had  also 
seen  another  herd  of  six  musk-oxen,  peacefully  grazing  near  his 
slaughter-ground,  undisturbed  by  the  hunt.  These  last  animals 
he  judged  it  best  to  let  live  until  the  camp  had  been  moved 
nearer  to  that  spot. 

To  crown  it  all,  he  carried  on  his  back,  in  addition  to  the 
hearts  and  tongues  of  the  newly-killed  animals,  two  delicious 
barnacle-geese  which  he  had  shot  near  to  our  tent  on  his 
way  home. 

He  honestly  deserved  the  twenty-four  hours'  sleep  he  had 
after  this  excursion. 

Later  on  we  moved  the  camp  10  kilometres  ahead  to  a  valley 
in  the  vicinity  of  Cape  May,  off  the  point  where  both  the  killed 
and  the  living  oxen  were  found.  We  set  out  in  glorious  sun- 
shine, and  the  good  warmth  which,  during  the  last  few  days  on 
land,  had  baked  right  through  our  bodies,  which  were  often 
quite  red  and  swollen  after  our  wading  trips,  gave  us  new 
strength  for  the  coming  toil.  And  that  was  urgently  required, 
for  it  took  fifteen  hours  to  cover  the  10  kilometres  through 
water,  ice-rivers,  and  nigged  Polar-ice.  We  made  ready  for 
the  hunt  when  we  had  pitched  our  tent  by  the  sea-ice. 

We  were  now  able  to  face  the  coming  week  with  calm  minds. 
There  was  a  sufficiency  of  meat  for  men  and  dogs,  and  plenty  of 
work  for  the  botanist  of  the  expedition  in  the  fertile,  well- 
watered  valley. 

For  the  first  time  during  our  journey  we  all  had  real  feelings 
of  summer  with  7°  (Cent.),  and  fine,  calm,  clear  weather ;  that 
was  why  we  called  the  valley  with  the  name  which  sounds  so 
sweetly  to  an  Arctic  traveller,  Summer  Valley. 

1 75 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

SUMMER    VALLEY 

July  llth-lMh. — As  soon  as  our  clothes  were  once  more  fit 
to  use  after  the  wading  trip  of  the  previous  day,  we  all  went  into 
the  mountains  with  the  dogs  leashed;  they  were  to  go  "into 
the  country  "  for  four  days  to  regain  their  strength,  and  during 
that  time  they  would  be  allowed  to  eat  as  much  of  solid  meat  as 
they  could  get  down  ;  they  were  to  laze,  gorge,  and  grow  fat. 

To  the  uninitiated  it  may  perhaps  seem  that  sledge  travellers 
are  inconsiderate  and  cruel  to  their  animals.  Maybe  that  now 
and  then  we  have  to  harden  our  hearts  towards  them  when, 
during  heavy  going,  they  throw  up  the  sponge  and  refuse  to 
proceed  ;  but  what  else  can  one  do  under  such  circumstances  but 
harden  one's  heart  and  force  the  poor  beasts  ahead  ?  It  is  surely 
to  their  own  interest  that  we  should  get  them  as  quickly  as 
possible  across  bad  ground.  If  a  tired  dog  is  cut  loose,  it  will 
simply  lie  down  on  the  spot  to  die  without  making  any  attempt 
to  follow.  And  even  if  now  and  then  we  do  treat  our  dogs 
harshly — under  conditions  when  we  ourselves  are  no  better  off — 
nobody  is  more  happy  than  we  are  when  for  a  period  we  are 
able  to  give  the  faithful  animals  a  holiday  and  leave  them  to 
enjoy  the  pleasures  of  the  present  in  excessive  gourmandizing. 
So  we  then  select  a  well-watered  and  sheltered  place  for  them, 
preferably  by  a  small  brook  with  fertile  and  soft  ground  along 
its  banks  ;  here  all  their  food  is  brought  to  them  and  they  have 
full  compensation  for  all  the  evil  days  we  have  forced  them  to 
live  through. 

Unfortunately  such  days  appear  only  as  oases  in  a  desert, 
where  generally  one  must  fight  for  existence  from  day  to  day. 
But  then  no  driver  shirks  the  longest  and  most  strenuous  hunt 
to  procure  game  ;  and  if  hunting  fails,  he  will  as  a  rule  share 
with  his  team  the  crumbs  destined  for  his  own  pot. 

Our  eighteen  dogs,  then,  the  remains  of  the  seventy  with 
which  we  arrived  up  here,  were  to  spend  a  few  days  in  lazy 
abundance,  wherefore  they  were  taken  up  into  Summer  Valley 
to  a  place  where  Ajako  had  his  meat  depot  of  the  six  oxen. 
First,  however,  the  last  observed  herd  was  to  be  killed,  and  we 
176 


Ik*' 


Q 

a 

Eh 


H 
o 
p 
o 

- 


ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

now  found  that  it  consisted  of  five  animals  instead  of  six,  as  we 
had  originally  assumed. 

The  hunt  was  quick  and  easy.  The  musk-oxen,  one  bull 
and  four  cows,  grazed  on  a  fertile  hill  near  to  the  killed  animals. 
By  way  of  a  small  valley  we  had  approached  unseen  by  them, 
and  we  now  stood  before  them  suddenly  and  without  warning. 
As  soon  as  they  discovered  us  they  gathered  and  formed  into 
their  famous  order  of  battle,  in  no  way  appearing  to  be 
surprised  or  impressed.  They  quite  calmly  looked  into  our 
eyes  and  contented  themselves  by  occasionally  sharpening  their 
horns  against  the  stones. 

A  herd  of  wild  cattle  like  this  possesses  a  most  impressive 
dignity  ;  not  for  a  moment  does  their  calm  ruminating  balance 
desert  them  as  long  as  the  onlooker  keeps  quiet.  They  show 
not  the  slightest  sign  of  fear  as  does  other  game  of  the  wilder- 
ness, such  as  the  bear  or  the  reindeer,  which  run  away  at  a  long 
distance.  To  run  across  a  musk-ox  means  really  to  meet  it ;  it 
remains  quietly  standing,  examining  and  scanning  us,  but  over 
our  meeting  there  is  a  certain  equality,  a  silent  dignity,  which 
almost  bears  the  stamp  of  an  audience  in  the  midst  of  the  great 
silent  waste  where  no  other  sound  is  known  than  the  rush  of 
the  rivers  and  the  scream  of  birds. 

They  do  not  suspect,  these  black,  long-haired  majesties, 
that  two-legged  knick-knacks  like  us  carry  such  mean  devilment 
as  quick-firing  machine-guns,  nor  that  all  the  wolf-dogs,  which 
in  the  beginning  we  considerately  kept  back,  will  be  urged  on  to 
them  as  soon  as  they  attempt  to  retire  from  our  obtrusive 
presence. 

As  usual,  we  wish  to  start  by  photographing  them,  but  this 
did  not  fall  in  with  the  wish  of  the  bull.  He  made  a  few  light- 
ning-swift sallies,  so  sudden  and  dangerous  that  we  quickly  had 
to  shoot  him  so  that  we  might  photograph  his  wives  in  peace. 
When  this  was  finished  these  also  had  to  bite  the  dust ;  and  I 
must  say  that  they  accepted  death  with  the  same  contempt  for 
pain  as  did  the  great  bull.  A  bullet  through  the  chest,  and 
they  sink  to  their  knees  once  more  staring  at  us  with  their  large 
unfathomable  eyes,  as  if  protesting  against  the  deceitfulness  of 
M  177 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

wounding  an  enemy  at  a  distance  instead  of  during  a  close  fight. 
Then  they  quiver  in  pain,  until  another  bullet  cuts  off  their 
breath  and  their  enormous  bodies  topple  over  in  the  sand, 
drawing  with  a  heavy  gasp  their  last  sigh. 

When  the  skinning  was  finished  the  dogs  were  given  as 
much  meat  as  they  would  eat ;  they  were  then  tethered  on  the 
selected  spot  by  a  running  brook,  where  they  could  sink  into  a 
comfortable  sleep  until  once  more  they  were  ready  for  a 
meal. 

After  that  we  ourselves  went  down  to  the  tent  to  take  our 
rest,  no  less  deserved.  Every  man  carried  on  his  back  as  much 
of  solid  meat  as  he  could  manage.  For  we  humans  have  at  any 
rate  that  advantage  over  the  animals  that  we  offer  a  thought 
for  the  morrow. 

We  remember  Summer  Valley  as  an  oasis  in  our  period  of 
distress.  It  was  full  summer  and  at  every  step  we  took  we 
could  enjoy  the  many  beautiful  flowers  which  pushed  up  from 
the  mean  earth  wherever  there  was  the  faintest  possibility  to 
strike  root.  Besides  these  many  aesthetic  pleasures  there  was 
also  the  material  boon  of  abundant  and  savoury  provisions  for 
so  long  as  our  visit  lasted. 

Summer  Valley  stretches  about  6  kilometres  from  north  to 
south,  or  from  the  sea-ice  to  the  inland-ice.  A  river,  which  at 
our  departure  will  present  great  difficulties  by  the  great  and 
deep  delta  which  it  melts  far  out  in  the  Polar  Sea,  has  created 
the  valley  and  flows  through  200  metres  high  hilly  tracts,  the 
so-called  "  stubble  mountains,"  whose  slopes  are  very  fertile. 
From  all  fells  and  mountains  little  brooks  run  down  in  the  main 
river,  and  from  certain  yet  unmelted  snowdrifts  water  oozes 
down  through  a  throng  of  yellow,  red,  white,  and  blue  flowers 
and  lush,  green  grass. 

Whilst  at  the  camp  on  the  ocean-ice  we  have  a  temperature 
which  swings  between  zero  and  2°  (Cent.),  we  have  10°  of 
warmth  in  the  shade  both  night  and  day  as  soon  as  we  come  a 
little  way  up  into  the  valley.  In  the  sun  there  is  upwards  of 
25°,  a  temperature  so  overwhelming  that  we  must  search 
178 


ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

out    shady    places    in   order  not    to    suffer    too    much    from 
the  heat. 

In  strange  contrast  to  this  teeming  summer  is  the  Polar  Sea 
with  its  thawing,  whitish-grey  ice  stretching  northward  as  tar 
as  the  eye  can  reach. 

Snorre  mentions  somewhere  in  "  Hejmskringla "  that 
Hakon  Jarl,  during  his  visit  to  Harald  Gormson,  the  King  of 
the  Danes,  whilst  a  fugitive  from  Gunhild's  sons,  had  so  much 
to  think  about  through  the  winter  that  he  took  to  his  bed.  He 
often  lay  awake,  and  ate  and  drank  only  sufficient  to  keep  up 
the  strength  of  his  body. 

I  am  on  the  point  of  sharing  his  fate  ;  I  have  serious  prob- 
lems to  consider,  and  although  conditions  do  not  permit  me  to 
go  to  bed  to  seek  the  perfect  quietness  in  which  the  tangled 
skein  may  be  unravelled,  I  fully  understand  the  old  Viking  and 
his  eccentric  behaviour.  I  often  lie  awake  during  this  period 
while  the  others  sleep,  and  it  appears  to  me  that  one  is  never 
nearer  to  the  "  pink  dawn  of  decision  "  than  when,  with  one's 
body  at  rest  in  the  sleeping-bag,  one's  brain  is  working.  Un- 
deniably at  this  time  there  is  plenty  of  food  for  thought  for  one 
upon  whom  rests  decision  and  responsibility. 

The  bad  going  of  melting  ice  and  water  through  which  we 
must  force  our  way  leads  naturally  to  considerations  of  the 
practicability  of  a  summering  in  this  valley  where,  so  far,  game 
seems  to  abound. 

My  comrades  have  repeatedly  asked  me  if  I  did  not  consider 
it  wisest  to  break  the  journey  for  the  time  being,  and  continue 
later  on  when  the  air  was  cold  enough  to  freeze  the  water  on  the 
ice.  But  I  have  postponed  my  decision  and  maintained  that 
we  ought  to  continue  so  long  as  we  make  any  advance  on  even 
the  most  modest  daily  journey. 

During  the  days  we  have  spent  here  I  have  thoroughly  con- 
sidered the  question  and  made  my  decision. 

We  must  continue,  and  in  spite  of  the  demoralizing  state  of 
the  ground  we  must  make  all  efforts  to  reach  a  point  of  access 

179 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

to  the  inland-ice  somewhere  by  the  head  of  St.  George  Fjord. 
A  summering  here  might  prepare  for  us  the  same  fate  as  that 
which  overtook  Mylius-Erichsen,  for  we  must  rely  upon  the 
land-hunting,  and,  when  the  neighbourhood  is  exhausted  of 
game,  it  will  be  extremely  difficult  to  reach  fresh  hunting- 
grounds.  We  cannot  reckon  on  catching  seals  to  such  an  extent 
that  we  could  feed  seven  men  and  eighteen  dogs  for  a  period 
until  the  going  is  better,  which  will  hardly  be  until  the  begin- 
ning of  September. 

By  continuing  our  journey  now,  unless  misfortune  overtakes 
us,  we  are  able  to  travel  with  three  teams  each  consisting  of  six 
dogs.  At  the  moment  we  are  all  in  full  strength  ;  but  nobody 
knows  in  what  condition  we  and  our  dogs  may  be  after  two 
months  of  hunting  life  here. 

There  is  now  the  hope  that  we  may  find  seals  by  Dragon 
Point,  whereas  in  September  we  shall  find  none.  Our  catch 
during  the  summering  would  have  to  give  such  a  surplus  that, 
beside  our  daily  needs,  we  would  also  be  able  to  provide  for  the 
homeward  journey  ;  all  of  which  is  very  doubtful. 

Should  we  postpone  the  return  journey,  the  difficulties  we 
meet  with  now  would  come  back  on  us  in  another  and  far  more 
serious  way.  Later  in  the  year  there  will  be  more  snow  on  the 
inland-ice,  consequently  our  gear  and  provision  will  be  so  inade- 
quate that  we  must  take  the  route  across  Fort  Conger  and  make 
a  temporary  wintering  there.  That  would  complicate  our  dis- 
positions to  a  far  greater  extent. 

Now  in  July  and  August  there  will  be  no  unusually  low 
temperature  on  the  inland-ice,  we  shall  have  the  sun  to  dry  our 
clothes,  and  we  shall  be  able  to  do  without  our  sleeping-bags 
and  suchlike  articles,  which  will  considerably  reduce  our  loads. 

Even  if  we  should  not  find  very  good  hunting  by  Dragon 
Point,  we  can  safely  cross  the  inland-ice  on  the  provisions  which 
at  present  we  possess ;  finally,  at  this  time  of  the  year  we  can 
cut  short  our  journey  and  go  down  on  land  near  Humboldt's 
Glacier,  where  hunting  of  reindeer  and  hare  is  good.  Later  on 
in  the  autumn  the  darkness  will  deprive  us  of  this  chance  for 
hunting. 
180 


ACROSS  MELTING  ICE  TO  SUMMER  VALLEY 

Last  but  not  least  :  two  months  of  hunting  life  in  these 
tracts,  where  necessarily  one  must  traverse  huge  expanses  of 
land,  will  wear  heavily  on  our  boots,  which  are  already  in 
poor  condition  because  of  the  constant  wading  through 
the  water. 

Therefore,  homeward  as  quickly  as  possible  in  spite  of  all ; 
everv  dav  that  goes  will  increase  our  difficulties  ! 


181 


CHAPTER  X 

SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD  TO  ST.  GEORGE 

FJORD 

ACROSS  SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD  FOR  THE  LAST  TIME 

IV  T  OT  without  sadness  do  we  take  leave  of  this  little  valley 
I  A     where  both  men  and  dogs  have  had  four  glorious  rest  days. 
We  all  have  a  feeling  that  in  front  of  us  lies  a  fight  for 
life  which  will  require  all  our  strength. 

We  cannot  take  with  us  much  meat  of  the  eleven  oxen  killed  in 
this  place.  We  have  carried  down  to  the  sledges  twenty -four 
shoulders  and  legs,  which  for  human  consumption  would  go 
rather  a  long  way,  but  as  dog  food  it  is  too  lean  to  last  out  well. 
We  cannot  take  more  than  this  quantity,  for,  as  the  load  con- 
sists of  other  things  as  well,  it  would  be  quite  impossible  for  us 
to  pull  heavier  sledges  out  of  the  many  water-filled  holes  which 
we  shall  pass.  Furthermore,  the  temperature  in  the  valley  was 
so  high  that  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  keep  the  meat  fresh. 
Enormous  swarms  of  bluebottles  literally  shot  up  from  the  soil 
and  laid  their  eggs  everywhere  on  the  meat.  A  skinned  piece 
which  is  put  aside  will  in  a  few  seconds  be  entirely  covered  with 
flies.  So  quickly  do  the  eggs  develop  that  the  fat  and  dis- 
gusting maggots  pour  out  of  the  eyeholes  of  the  killed  animals. 
Also  the  solid  meat  is  destroyed  in  the  same  way ;  but  fortun- 
ately it  is  not  a  great  quantity  which  is  being  wasted,  as  from 
the  very  outset  we  overfed  our  dogs,  and  we  also  have  had  as 
many  meals  as  we  could  possibly  get  down. 

All  our  energy  is  now  bent  towards  the  crossing  of  Sherard 
Osborne  Fjord,  however  heavy  and  difficult  the  going  may 
prove.  For  now  we  want  to  get  home.  The  day  before  yes- 
182 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

terday  I  sent  Harrigan  and  Ajako  to  Cape  May  to  reconnoitre  ; 
their  observations  revealed  the  fact  that  the  road  from  our  camp 
to  the  cape  itself  will  be  difficult ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  seems 
that  the  fjord  itself,  despite  occasional  clefts,  will  not  be  quite 
impossible.     Therefore,  let  us  spit  on  our  hands  ! 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  15th  of  July  we  are 
ready  to  start.  Standing  there  on  the  ice  ready  to  throw  our- 
selves out  into  the  water,  Summer  Valley  appears  more  pretty 
than  ever.  The  afternoon  sun  sheds  its  colours  over  the  green- 
speckled  slopes,  and  the  inland-ice  behind  the  country  hangs 
over  the  friendly  babbling  river  in  beautiful  pink  shades.  Even 
the  great  ice-covered  ocean  has  put  on  gay  garments,  phantastic 
mirages  breaking  the  dead  monotony  of  the  horizon  by  erecting 
aerial  castles  above  the  plane  of  the  desert.  Beaumont  Island 
with  its  sharp,  dark  cliffs  has  risen  above  the  ice  and  hovers  high 
up  in  the  air  swathed  in  violet  hues. 

But  we  have  no  time  for  poetic  moods ;  before  us  lies  the 
grey,  everyday  prose  in  the  many  water-filled  hollows  we  have 
to  cross.  For  the  first  four  hours  we  work  our  way  out  through 
the  great  river  delta,  where  the  water  often  reaches  to  our 
waists.  In  most  places  the  dogs  cannot  reach  the  bottom,  so 
we  ourselves  must  undertake  the  work  of  getting  the  sledges 
across  the  deep  lakes.  Especially  when  the  sledge-snouts  get 
stuck  below  the  hollowed  ice-hummocks  we  find  work  hard,  for 
then  we  have  to  lie  down  with  our  arms  in  the  water,  wrenching 
the  sledges  backwards  out  of  the  obstacle. 

To  save  our  collections,  the  photographic  material,  diaries, 
and  other  important  matters,  from  a  soaking,  we  build  another 
storey  to  the  sledges,  erecting  two  staffs  on  the  foremost  tran- 
soms and  building  a  bridge  of  skis  between  these  and  the  up- 
rights ;  this  is  a  very  helpful  invention. 

Near  Cape  May  the  ice  improves  greatly,  and  to  our  great 
surprise  we  find  on  the  first  half  of  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  the 
best  ice  we  have  as  yet  encountered  up  here.  The  melted  water 
has  apparently  oozed  through,  so  the  basins  are  for  the  most 
part  dry  or  at  any  rate  covered  merely  by  very  shallow  water. 
The  dogs  trot  along  in  good  fettle  with  one  man  on  the  sledge, 

183 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

an  encouraging  sight  which  we  have  not  witnessed  since  the  7th 
of  May  ;  they  all  wear  kamiks  and  do  not  suffer  much  from  the 
sharp  points  of  the  ice.  At  six  o'clock  we  pitch  our  tent  in  the 
middle  of  the  fjord  off  Reef  Island,  which  is  one  of  the  Beau- 
mont Isles.  In  spite  of  the  occasionally  difficult  condition  of 
the  ground,  we  have  already  rather  heavy  loads  for  the  return 
journey.  We  have  paraffin,  pemmican,  biscuits,  coffee,  tea, 
sugar,  oats,  our  clothes,  and  each  eight  ox-shoulders  and  legs, 
besides  tallow  and  melted  marrow.  We  really  do  not  need  a 
great  addition  of  seal  meat  for  each  sledge.  But  so  far  we  have, 
strangely  enough,  not  seen  any  seals  at  all. 

If  only  we  can  get  two  whole  seals  per  sledge — altogether 
six — in  addition  to  what  we  shall  require  before  we  ascend  the 
inland-ice,  we  shall  easily  reach  the  land  by  Cape  Agassiz, 
situated  only  400  kilometres  from  St.  George  Fjord. 

It  is  the  fourth  time  on  this  journey  that  I  come  to  Sherard 
Osborne  Fjord.  Without  comparison  it  is  the  most  beautiful 
of  all  the  fjords  up  here,  the  wildest  horizon  outward,  most  air 
inward,  with  peculiar  geological  formations.  The  Devonian 
section  out  towards  the  mouth  is  light  brown  and  warm  in  tinge, 
with  numerous  tongues  of  glacier  pushing  down  between  the 
high  out-jutting  capes  ;  the  Silurian  further  in,  bluish,  leaden- 
grey,  strongly  changing  in  colours  in  the  varying  light ;  and 
inmost  the  tender,  often  pink  algonkium,  the  eozoic  section 
with  its  fine  pinks  of  dawn. 

In  the  background,  through  a  mighty  wide  gateway  by  Cape 
Buttress,  is  the  inland-ice,  which  from  this  point  shows  against 
the  horizon  as  a  whitish  sun-glittering  fog. 

In  the  beautiful,  quiet  afternoon  as  I  am  writing  this,  pre- 
vious to  the  start  for  Dragon  Point,  the  enormous  stillness  of 
the  fjord  is  broken  by  occasional  rolling  thunder  from  the  many 
small  local  glaciers  which  seem  unusually  lively  here  on  the 
north-east  side  of  the  fjord.  Our  camp  is  in  the  middle  of  the 
fjord.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  break  up,  setting 
our  course  for  Dragon  Point. 

Fortunately  we  have  the  same  easy  going  as  yesterday.  The 
184 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

many  great  water-basins  have  poured  out  their  contents 
through  the  melting-pores  of  the  ice,  and  in  most  places  they 
are  now  quite  empty.  The  porous  ice  with  its  sharp  needles  is 
painful  for  the  feet,  bidfthe  dogs  constantly  wear  their  shoes, 
which  prevent  their  paws  from  being  cut.  In  some  places  we 
meet  lakes  which  are  from  2  to  3  kilometres  broad.  As  a  rule 
the  water  here  only  reaches  up  to  the  ankle,  but  it  is  very  cold 
and  covered  with  a  layer  of  thin  ice  which  breaks  with  a  jingle 
as  soon  as  we  tread  on  it.  This  sharp  new  ice  troubles  the  dogs 
when  it  breaks  between  their  paws,  for  the  fragments  have  edges 
like  knives,  having  the  hard  consistency  of  fresh  water  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  softer  toughness  of  the  salt  water.  To  get 
around  the  worst  and  biggest  of  these  lakes  we  drive  in  a  zigzag 
course,  and  only  at  two  o'clock  do  we  reach  Dragon  Point  after 
having  made  a  distance  of  13  kilometres. 

To  our  surprise  we  meet  here  a  belt  of  open  water  between 
land  and  the  oeean-ice.  The  excessive  quantity  of  melted  water 
of  the  last  few  days  has  oozed  down  from  land  and  softened  the 
ice ;  the  pressure  of  the  tidal  waters  underneath  has  added  its 
work  to  hasten  the  melting,  and  these  forces  together  have  pro- 
duced a  broad  belt  of  open  water  between  land  and  the  ocean- 
ice.  We  find  a  spot  with  a  breadth  of  only  40  kilometres 
and  ferry  across  with  the  sledges  which,  with  the  aid  of  bladders, 
we  have  made  capable  of  floating. 

To  our  indescribable  disappointment,  we  have  not  yet  seen 
one  single  seal ;  the  reason  must  surely  be  that  the  ice,  because 
of  the  hasty  melting  of  the  snow,  has  become  so  rough  and 
prickly  that  the  seals  do  not  care  to  crawl  up  on  it.  Neverthe- 
less, we  are  hoping  that  a  systematic  hunt  may  give  some  result, 
as  in  the  water-belt  between  land  and  ice  we  have  seen  several. 

After  a  hurried  meal  Harrigan  and  I  climb  the  mountains 
in  order  to  find,  from  the  top  of  the  high  Dragon  Mountain,  a 
point  of  access  to  the  inland-ice.  Going  is  bad  and  we  fre- 
quently cut  our  feet,  which  are  already  sore  from  walking  across 
the  ice,  on  the  many  little  sharp  stones  which  cover  the  mountain 
slopes.  These  stones  alternate  with  heavy,  soft  clay,  now  in 
such  a  state  because  of  the  thaw  that  we  frequently  sink  down 

185 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

and  stick  fast.  Finally  we  have  to  cross  several  rivers  which 
give  us  difficulty. 

We  decide  to  climb  the  mountain  due  south  by  south-west 
of  Dragon  Point  and  hunt  hares  on  our  way.  There  are  not  a 
few,  but  they  are  incredibly  shy.  We  succeed  in  bagging 
eight,  which  we  deposit  by  the  foot  of  the  mountain. 

We  see  a  seal  on  the  ice  near  a  whirlpool  outside  a  large 
river  which  appears  to  intersect  entirely  the  land  of  Dragon 
Point.  The  ice  where  the  seal  lies  is,  however,  so  strongly 
thawed  up  because  of  the  fresh  water,  that  it  proves  impossible 
for  us  to  approach  to  within  shooting  distance.  That  is  the 
only  seal  we  have  seen  so  far. 

It  is  slow  work  to  climb  the  mountain,  as  our  feet  are  burn- 
ing with  walking  on  the  small  sharp  stones  which  torture  our 
foot-soles.  Not  until  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  do  we  reach 
the  top  of  a  great  firn*  with  deep  and  fatiguing  snow.  We  are 
now  well  over  1,000  kilometres  above  sea-level.  But  our  efforts 
are  rewarded,  for  we  have  a  glorious  view  of  Sherard  Osborne 
Fjord,  St.  George  Fjord,  and  the  country  in  all  directions. 
But  our  eyes  do  not  appreciate  the  grand  Arctic  panorama 
glistening  in  fresh  light  colours  from  glaciers  and  firn-covered 
land  ;  they  search  for  one  thing  only  :  the  many  tongues  of  the 
inland-ice  down  towards  land  which  shall  make  it  possible  for  us 
to  ascend  and  find  a  way  homeward ;  and  simultaneously  we 
give  a  loud  shout  with  joy  : 

We  have  found  the  place  ! 

Approximately  40  kilometres  into  the  fjord  the  inland-ice 
lets  down  a  white  fold  across  an  even  gradient  of  mountains  at 
a  distance  of  5  or  6  kilometres  from  the  fjord-ice.  No  crevasses 
are  apparent,  and  across  the  peaks  behind  shines  the  broad  even 
back  of  the  main  glacier.     Here  the  attempt  must  be  made. 

Late  in  the  night  of  the  19th  we  return  to  the  tent  after  an 
activity  of  nearly  two  nights  and  days.  Hendrik  and  Koch 
then  climb  the  Dragon  Mountain  to  find  an  observation 
station  with  a  view  of  all  the  new  land. 

*  Firn — i.e.,  covered  land. 
186 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

THE   SEAL-HUNT   FAILS   COMPLETELY 

July  19th. — In  the  afternoon  of  the  19th,  Ajako  and  Bosun 
return  after  three  days  of  seal-hunting,  which  has  brought  no 
result.  They  have  been  right  across  the  fjord  and  followed  the 
coast  right  down  to  Cape  Bryan,  where  they  were  stopped  by  a 
broad  open  ocean  trending  far  seaward  due  north,  and  then  due 
west  in  the  direction  of  Black  Horn  Cliffs.  No  seals  were  to 
be  seen  here,  probably  because  they  kept  further  seaward.  But 
they  have  seen  many  along  land  in  the  broad  water-belt.  Here 
they  had  shot  six,  the  very  number  I  had  mentioned  as  a  safe- 
guard for  the  homeward  journey ;  but  every  one  had  dived  to 
the  bottom  like  a  stone. 

The  habits  of  the  seals  of  this  fjord — or  perhaps  on  the 
coasts  of  North  Greenland  generally — are  so  different  from 
what  is  known  in  other  places  in  Greenland,  that  we  were 
landed  in  a  very  serious  position.  Everywhere  the  seals  at  this 
warm  summer-time  will  crawl  up  on  the  ice,  and  a  sure  aim 
gives  an  easy  catch  ;  in  that  way  we  got  our  seals  by  the  Flesh- 
pot  and  Dragon  Point.  But  those  which  must  now  be  shot  in 
the  water  will  sink  at  once  because  they  are  so  thin.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  the  water-filled  surface  which  constitutes  rough  and 
slippery  ice  does  not  tempt  them  to  come  up,  wherefore  they 
must  fall  back  on  the  open  water  either  at  sea  or  along  land  or 
ice.  But  under  similar  ice  conditions  and  at  the  same  time  of 
the  year  in  Independence  Fjord  in  1912,  and  by  the  previously 
described  sealing-grounds  by  Marshall  Bay  and  Renslaer  Har- 
bour, we  saw  the  seals  crawling  up.  A  water  pantomime  like 
the  one  here  being  performed  along  the  land,  none  of  us  have 
previously  witnessed.  From  our  camp  we  have  shot  altogether 
three,  but  they  also  went  to  the  bottom  without  a  movement, 
and  in  spite  of  all  efforts  it  proved  impossible  to  fish  them  out  of 
the  turbid  water.  It  was  therefore  essential  that  we  should  now 
take  stock  of  the  provisions  which  we  have  deposited,  and  also 
of  those  which  we  have  acquired  during  recent  hunts ;  we  shall 
scarcely  be  able  to  get  more,  but  we  ought  to  have  sufficient, 
even  though  it  be  the  smallest  possible  sufficiency. 

187 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

I  reckon  twelve  days'  journey  from  the  edge  of  the  inland-ice 
to  the  land  by  Cape  Agassiz  near  the  southern  corner  of 
Humboldt's  Glacier.  The  distance  will  be  400  kilometres ; 
with  the  possibility  of  four  weather-bound  days,  that  will  be 
altogether  sixteen  days'  travelling.  To  meet  all  emergencies 
we  ought  to  take  provisions  for  twenty  days. 

The  stock-taking  of  the  stores  which  we  cached  on  this 
headland  in  May  gives  the  following  result :  Rolled  Avena 
oats  for  twenty  days,  with  one  cooking  a  day  ;  biscuits,  little 
rye-flour  biscuits  of  the  size  of  the  well-known  Marie  biscuits, 
five  per  day  for  twenty  days ;  about  50  pounds  of  pemmican, 
divided  into  small  rations  for  seven  men  for  nine  days ;  also 
coffee  and  tea  for  twenty  or  twenty-five  days.  We  must  pro- 
cure meat  provisions  for  about  ten  days.  If,  as  for  the  moment 
seems  likely,  this  is  to  consist  entirely  of  hares,  we  reckon  three 
hares  per  day  for  seven  men,  which  again  means  that  thirty 
hares  must  be  found.  These  represent  a  very  undurable  and 
bony  article,  so  we  must  cut  them  in  two  and  bring  only  the 
hind  part. 

But  as  long  as  we  remain  on  the  ocean-ice,  as  long  as  the 
many  seals  splash  in  the  melted  water  right  in  front  of  our  eyes, 
we  will  cling  to  the  hope  that  after  all  we  may  succeed  in 
catching  a  few.  Should  even  the  land-hunt  fail,  we  have  only 
our  dogs  to  fall  back  on  ;  this  is  unfortunately  neither  aesthetic 
nor  tempting,  but  circumstances  may  arise  when  the  fight  for 
existence  simplifies  the  lines  on  which  dispositions  have  to  be 
made,  and  the  situation  thus  created  alters  one's  feelings  to  a 
certain  degree. 

For  the  dogs  we  have  twenty-four  pieces  of  musk-ox  meat, 
chiefly  legs  and  shoulders,  also  skin  and  blubber  of  two  seals. 
This  we  hope  will  suffice  for  twelve  travelling  days,  provided 
we  have  not  to  make  inroads  on  it  in  St.  George  Fjord.  Thus 
there  is  yet  a  possibility  that  most  of  the  dogs  with  some  luck 
will  come  safe  to  the  land  south  of  Humboldt's  Glacier.  When 
we  arrive  there  we  shall  be  within  Etah — the  hunting-grounds 
of  the  Eskimos — and  can  surely  then  manage  the  last  250  kilo- 
metres till  we  meet  men. 
188 


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DR.    Wl'LFF    HEADY    TO    GO    THROUGH    THE    WATER 


WE    FERRY    ACROSS    TUB    COASTAL    LANE    BY    DRAGON    POINT 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

Already  it  is  now  quite  clear  to  us  that  the  homeward 
journey  will  require  the  last  of  our  strength  ;  but  we  have  no 
choice,  we  must  reach  home  and  get  away  from  these  regions 
where  there  is  not  game  enough  to  make  existence  possible  for 
any  length  of  time. 

Ajako  and  Bosun,  immediately  after  their  return  from  their 
unsuccessful  seal-hunting,  went  out  to  hunt  hares  ;  after  an  ab- 
sence of  twelve  hours  they  returned  with  five  hares,  having  also 
seen  a  largish  flock  of  ermine,  of  which  they  brought  one.  In 
order  to  save  our  ox-meat  the  dogs  were  fed  on  hares — a  meal 
which  tastes  well  enough,  but  did  not  seem  to  satisfy  them.  In 
the  course  of  the  day  Koch  and  Hendrik  returned  from  Dragon 
Mountain.  Koch  was  full  of  enthusiasm  over  the  beautiful 
view  he  had  had,  and  over  the  excellent  results  his  climb  in  the 
mountains  had  yielded. 

Hunger  and  death  stalked  us  from  all  sides,  and  we  decided 
to  break  up  quickly.  As  it  pays  best  to  have  the  hunters  dis- 
tributed as  well  as  possible,  the  journey  was  arranged  so  that 
the  expedition  temporarily  was  divided  into  two  parties. 
Wulff,  Koch,  Hendrik,  and  Bosun  were  to  follow  the  great 
river  which  penetrates  the  country,  and  go  so  far  in  that  they 
would  come  out  on  the  height  of  the  point  from  which  we  were 
to  cross  over  to  Daniel  Bruun  Glacier  on  Warming  Land. 
Harrigan,  Ajako,  and  I  were  to  drive  the  sledges  to  our  meet- 
ing-place. 

During  camp-breaking  we  were  all  in  high  spirits.  ^Ve  did 
not  offer  much  thought  to  the  fact  that  now  we  unavoidably 
had  to  tighten  our  belts ;  it  was  far  more  important  to  us  that 
we  had  at  last  found  a  way  homeward,  and  that  our  stay  up 
here  was  completed  with  good  results.  Before  we  parted  we 
had  a  merry  shooting  competition  with  a  revolver,  which  must 
be  left  behind,  as  we  had  to  reduce  weight  so  as  not  to  drag  on 
unnecessary  burdens.  During  this  competition  Hendrik  re- 
presented, as  usual,  good  spirits  and  transmitted,  with  all  his 
amusing  fooleries,  his  happy  mood  to  us.  Immediately  before  we 
each  went  our  way,  something  happened  which  at  the  moment 
seemed  of  no  consequence,  but  which  later  was  destined  to 

189 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

occupy  my  thoughts  much,  even  though  I  could  not  regret  the 
decision  I  had  made. 

Just  before  we  broke  camp,  Hendrik  came  up  to  me  and 
asked  to  be  excused  from  going  inland ;  he  could  not  explain 
why,  but  he  would  rather  not,  and  therefore  asked  my  permis- 
sion to  join  our  party  and  cross  the  ice.  I  explained  that  there 
were  practical  reasons  for  the  distribution,  as  it  was  of  impor- 
tance that  as  many  as  possible  should  go  land-hunting  ;  further- 
more, the  walk  on  land  would  be  much  more  comfortable  than 
driving  across  the  ice,  as  the  latter  would  go  chiefly  through 
water-basins.  He  found  an  excuse  by  saying  that  his  boots 
were  bad,  and  that  it  would  hurt  his  feet  to  walk  across  the  stony 
stretches.  I  gave  him  at  once  a  pair  of  my  own  kamiks  to  pull 
on  top  of  his  own,  so  that  the  soles  of  his  feet  should  not  suffer. 

At  that  moment  Harrigan,  who  had  heard  our  conversation, 
came  up  to  say  that  if  Hendrik  would  rather  not  go  across  the 
land,  he  could  take  Harrigan's  sledge,  so  that  the  latter  could 
go  hare-hunting  with  Bosun.  But  Hendrik  had  now  come  to 
a  new  decision  and  declared  that  as  I  had  decided  he  ought  to 
go  with  the  land  party,  he  had  better  do  so — and  thus  matters 
were  settled.  The  only  thing  in  this  little  incident  which  for  a 
moment  surprised  me  was  that  Hendrik,  who  always  in  the  best 
of  spirits  accepted  the  task  allotted  to  him,  on  this  occasion 
hesitated  to  carry  out  his  orders ;  but  as  during  the  past  few 
days,  with  his  Remington  rifle  of  the  Royal  Greenland  Com- 
mercial type,  he  had  shown  himself  to  be  one  of  our  safest  shots 
when  it  was  a  matter  of  bagging  the  shy,  fleeing  hares,  I  was 
nevertheless  satisfied  that  my  decision  should  stand,  little  sus- 
pecting the  uncanny  catastrophe  which  was  destined  to  be  a 
consequence  of  this  arrangement. 


THE  MEETING  WITH  OUR  COMRADES  BY  HARTZ  SOUND— 
HENDRIK  FAILS  TO  APPEAR 

July  20th-2ith. — At  last  on  the  28th  of  July  we  set  off  on 
a  beautiful  evening  to  attempt  an  ascent  in  the  place  we  had 
noted  from  the  top  of  Dragon  Mountain.  Our  stay  by  Dragon 
190 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

Point  had  in  every  way  disappointed  our  hopes ;  but  in  spite 
of  the  not  very  generous  store  of  provisions  we  could  not  hut 
feel  elated,  for  the  sun  shone  above  us  and  dried  our  clothes 
whilst  we  slept. 

Waving  our  hands  to  our  comrades,  and  with  encouraging 
shouts  to  the  dogs,  we  drove  out  in  the  middle  of  the  fjord, 
where  going  seemed  to  be  better.  But  we  soon  found  that 
conditions  were  more  changeable  than  ever.  The  ice  consisted 
of  old  Sikussaq,  and  an  unusually  bad  one  at  that.  The  melted 
holes  were  up  to  3  metres  deep,  and  in  some  places  they  were 
so  close  to  each  other  that  the  small  hills  of  ice  which  separated 
them  were  so  narrow  and  sharp  that  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  run  the  sledges  across  without  toppling  them  over.  Occa- 
sionally we  met  lanes  right  through  the  ice,  and  these  proved 
a  great  obstacle  to  us  because  the  dogs  flatly  refused  to  swim 
out  into  them.  With  all  our  strength  we  had  to  keep  the 
sledges  upright,  so  that  they  should  not  fall  down  in  the  seas ; 
and  gradually  we  got  very  tired  of  holding  them,  for  they  in- 
creased in  weight  as  the  load  became  waterlogged.  Although 
we  helped  each  other  across  all  difficult  passages,  the  sledges 
often  got  the  upper  hand  on  the  slippery  ice,  where  we  slithered 
about  in  our  water-filled,  soggy  boots,  and  when  they  did  over- 
turn there  was  nothing  to  do  but  jump  out  into  the  water  as 
quickly  as  possible. 

Everything  was  soaked,  even  our  holiest  of  holies — the 
photographic  films,  taken  on  the  whole  of  our  journey,  Wulff's 
collection  of  plants,  the  oats,  the  cameras  with  their  valuable 
films,  and  everything  else  bore  the  marks  of  that  damned  drive. 

After  twelve  hours'  bathing  we  stopped  at  nine  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  hoarse  with  shouting  at  each  other  and  the  dogs. 
Our  slight  advance  was  20  kilometres  into  St.  George  Fjord. 

By  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  baggage  was  once  more 
so  fairly  dry  that  we  could  continue.  The  state  of  our  own 
clothes  was  of  less  consequence,  for  we  would  be  driving  into 
the  water  again  in  any  case. 

Just  as  we  were  ready  to  start,  a  seal  popped  up  in  the  lane 
right  under  our  noses,  and  at  the  same  instant  it  got  a  bullet 

191 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

through  its  brain ;  but  in  spite  of  all  our  speed  it  sank  like  a 
stone  before  we  had  time  to  touch  it. 

It  blew  from  north-west  and  a  fog  set  in  ;  in  an  instant  the 
summer  was  as  if  blown  out  of  the  fjord,  and  as  the  sun  disap- 
peared we  felt  so  cold  in  our  wet  clothes  that  our  teeth  started 
chattering.  Off  we  went  through  ice  and  water,  but  in  the 
midst  of  our  hurry  we  must  stop  frequently  to  renew  the 
kamiks  of  the  dogs,  which  were  being  worn  out  on  the  rough 
ice.  Without  their  shoes  the  dogs  would  have  big  wounds  on 
the  pads  of  their  feet  within  a  few  minutes,  and  thus  be  of  no 
use  for  the  remainder  of  the  journey  ;  so  we  tied  on  their 
kamiks  with  hands  swollen  and  stiff  from  the  cold  water.  As  soon 
as  possible  we  continued  inward,  and  to  our  joy  we  found  that 
going  was  better  than  yesterday.  The  wind  rushed  round  in  the 
fjord  in  a  funny  way.  It  entered  as  a  south-easter  on  the  south 
side  of  the  fjord  and  left  it  as  a  north-wester  along  the  northern 
shore.  We  were  in  the  middle  of  the  ring,  and  we  felt  exactly 
as  if  we  were  on  a  merry-go-round. 

We  followed  the  shore-ice  inward  and  were  stopped  by  a 
shout  from  land.  Through  the  fog  we  discerned  Bosun  sitting 
on  a  big  stone  just  inside  the  belt  of  the  tidal  waters,  wildly 
gesticulating  as  is  the  custom  of  the  Eskimo  when  he  has  an 
important  communication  to  deliver.  As  soon  as  we  ap- 
proached we  understood  that  he  had  really  important  news.  He 
had  just  shot  a  seal,  which  lay  plainly  visible  in  low  water. 
He  also  told  that  on  the  way  he  had  shot  seven  hares.  This 
put  new  life  into  all  of  us.  A  long  stake  was  hurriedly  formed 
from  the  tent  poles,  and  at  the  end  of  this  the  point  of  a  har- 
poon was  fixed,  to  be  run  into  the  seal  so  that  we  could  haul 
it  up  by  the  aid  of  the  line  fixed  to  the  harpoon.  It  was  the 
first  time  that  a  killed  seal  had  sunk  in  a  spot  where  it  was 
visible,  and  we  already  sensed  the  taste  of  its  delicious  meat  in 
our  mouths  and  the  warmth  of  its  blubber  in  our  bodies.  A 
ferry  was  made,  but  at  the  very  moment  the  improvised  har- 
poon entered  the  water,  the  seal,  as  if  seized  by  an  invisible 
hand,  rolled  out  and  disappeared  in  the  deep. 

We  did  not  swear  on  this  occasion,  our  disappointment  was 
192 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

too  great ;  strangely  silent  we  continued  inward  to  meet  our 
comrades. 

Bosun  told  us  that  Hendrik  had  remained  behind,  as  he  had 
chosen  to  take  a  little  snooze  and  then  continue  the  hare- 
hunting. 

July  22nd. — At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  met  W'ulfl' 
and  Koch,  rather  weary  after  their  long  journey.  But  as  soon 
as  they  had  had  boiled  hares  and  coffee  their  weariness  was  as  if 
blown  away,  and  we  could  once  more  discuss  the  position.  The 
country  had  been  trackless  and  desolate,  and  though  a  fair 
number  of  hares  had  been  observed,  they  were  so  shy  that  one 
could  not  hope  for  hunting  which  would  make  a  rest  here 
possible. 

We  had  yet  eighteen  dogs,  and  if  these  were  to  live  on 
hares  they  would  require  at  least  ten  per  day  ;  even  that  would 
be  a  somewhat  mean  meal,  as  at  this  time  of  the  year  there  is 
little  meat  on  their  bony  carcases.  We  saw  clearly  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  get  so  big  a  bag  that  it  would  suffice  for 
the  dogs  and  for  ourselves,  and  in  addition  yield  the  thirty  hares 
which,  according  to  our  ideas,  would  be  required  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  provisions  for  the  homeward  journey.  Thus  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  continue  inward,  as  every  hour  of 
delay  meant  a  further  decrease  in  our  stores. 

None  of  us  gave  a  thought  to  Hendrik's  absence  at  this 
time ;  under  the  changeable  conditions  of  our  existence,  we 
were  so  accustomed  to  hunt  each  in  his  own  direction,  and  to 
remain  absent  for  indefinite  periods  as  often  as  we  thought  fit, 
that  there  was  no  cause  for  anxiety.  For  safety's  sake,  two 
men  nevertheless  went  to  search  the  mountains  in  different 
directions,  and  even  when  they  returned  to  the  tent  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  twelve  hours  after  our  arrival,  without 
having  seen  a  sign  of  Hendrik,  none  of  us  felt  any  uneasiness 
about  the  matter.  This  last  excursion  gave  a  bag  of  eleven 
hares,  whereof  ten  were  immediately  given  to  the  dogs,  whilst 
we  ourselves  shared  the  one  amongst  us. 

It  was  Ajako  and  Inukitsoq  who  had  been  in  the  moun- 
N  193 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

tains ;  immediately  after  their  return  Bosun  was  sent  over  to 
the  point  where  he  and  Hendrik  parted  on  the  evening  of  the 
21st,  but  also  he  returned  after  a  long  absence  without  result. 
Only  then  did  we  begin  to  feel  anxious  about  Hendrik,  and 
incessantly  one  or  two  men  went  into  the  mountains,  where  we 
tried  to  attract  Hendrik 's  attention  by  a  thorough  search  and 
also  by  shots  and  shouts. 

Bosun  gave  the  following  report : 

After  a  walk  of  ten  or  twelve  hours  into  the  fjord,  during 
which  Wulff  and  Koch  were  constantly  visible  on  the  opposite 
shore,  Hendrik  and  he  reached  a  large  stone,  where  they  lay 
down  to  rest  and  to  cook  a  hare.  Not  for  a  moment  had  they 
doubted  the  direction  they  were  to  take,  and  they  knew  now 
that  they  had  reached  the  spot  where  they  had  to  turn  down- 
wards to  St.  George  Fjord.  Especially  was  Hendrik,  who  had 
been  with  Koch  on  the  top  of  Dragon  Mountain,  well 
orientated. 

They  were  both  very  hungry,  but  as  they  had  only  fresh 
willow-shoots  with  which  to  light  a  fire  under  a  little  tin,  they 
did  not  succeed  in  making  a  fire  and  had  to  give  up  the  cooking. 
Whilst  sitting  there,  neither  of  them  anxious  to  eat  the  raw 
hare,  Hendrik  fell  asleep.  Bosun  was  anxious  to  get  in  touch 
with  us  on  the  ice  as  soon  as  possible,  and  he  roused  Hendrik  to 
tell  him  that  he  intended  to  continue  now.  After  that  he  went 
down  to  the  river,  which  was  large  and  broad,  but  he  found 
with  ease  a  ford  where  the  water  reached  no  higher  than  to  the 
ankles.  On  one  of  the  shores  of  the  river  he  sighted  some 
hares,  which  he  pursued.  Here  he  turned  round  to  look  for 
Hendrik  and  saw  that  he  stood  upright  by  the  side  of  the  stone 
where  he  had  been  sleeping.  Hendrik  had  at  that  time  a  bag 
of  four  hares,  and  was  yet  in  the  possession  of  thirty  cartridges, 
and  as  Bosun  assumed  that  he  would  continue  the  hunt  down- 
ward along  other  paths,  he  went  towards  the  fjord  in  the  direc- 
tion in  which  he  and  Hendrik  had  just  seen  Wulff  and  Koch. 
Through  a  clough  he  reached  a  large  stony  highland  which  led 
straight  down  to  the  fjord,  and  here  we  met  him  about  an  hour 
after  his  arrival. 
194 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

The  situation  at  present  is  a  desperate  one ;  we  do  not 
know  at  all  what  to  do  or  where  to  search,  for  as  the  country  is 
yet  bare  of  snow  there  are  no  tracks  to  guide  us,  and  as 
Hendrik,  according  to  Bosun's  tale,  seems  to  have  continued 
his  hunting,  it  is  impossible  to  know  which  direction  he  has 
taken.  It  is  unthinkable  that  he  should  have  lost  his  way, 
especially  as  he  is  on  an  island.  We  incline  to  the  assumption 
that  during  the  pursuit  of  hares  he  must  have  fallen  with  his 
gun  and  shot  himself.  The  hares  here  have  their  haunts  be- 
tween clefts  and  stones,  and  to  find  a  man  who  has  had 
an  accident  in  such  a  place  would  be  purely  a  matter  of 
chance. 

In  this  connection  I  am  reminded  of  an  episode  from  the 
colony  Christianshaab,  in  Danish  North  Greenland.  A  boy 
was  accidentally  shot  about  3  or  i  kilometres  from  the  colony 
itself.  The  whole  camp,  numbering  about  eighty  people,  went 
searching  for  him,  but  without  result.  Three  years  later  he 
was  found  quite  accidentally,  as  a  couple  of  ptarmigan  hunters 
ran  across  him ;  and  here  he  lay,  literally  on  the  high  road  of 
the  ptarmigan  and  hare  hunters,  but  in  a  stony  track  where 
only  sheer  chance  had  led  people  to  him. 

For  the  time  being  we  continue  our  search.  In  the  mean- 
time the  fjord-ice  which  we  must  pass  along  on  our  crossing  to 
Warming  Land  approaches  its  absolute  melting.  Around  us 
the  water  grows  deeper  and  deeper,  in  certain  places  form- 
ing holes  which  go  right  through  the  ice.  For  every  day 
the  difficulties  connected  with  the  traversing  of  such  terrain 
increase.  Furthermore,  the  immediate  neighbourhood  has 
been  hunted  empty  of  hares,  so  it  is  increasingly  difficult  to 
keep  the  dogs  in  fair  condition. 

A  large,  showery  cloud-bank  draws  up  from  south-east  and 
increases  the  dismal  feeling  which  rests  over  the  tent  and  makes 
us  all  silent.  At  every  sound  from  the  mountain,  when  a 
stone  loosens  and  rolls  down  or  a  bird  breaks  the  silence  with 
its  scream,  we  start  up  and  run  out  of  the  tent  to  see  if,  maybe, 
it  is  the  missing  one  returning.  If  in  addition  a  storm  is  to  set 
in  it  will  probably  be  impossible  to  cross  the  fjord  ;  and  we  have 

195 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

had  good  weather  for  so  long  a  period  that  an  immediate  change 
is  to  be  expected. 

To-day  all  the  country  inland  has  been  searched  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  great  river,  also  the  coast  as  far  as  we  could  get  along 
Hartz  Sound. 

July  2ith. — As  a  final  attempt  we  decide  to  spread  our- 
selves simultaneously  across  the  stretches  of  the  island  where 
there  might  be  a  possibility  that  Hendrik  has  met  with  an  ac- 
cident. We  walk  incessantly  for  twelve  hours,  spread  out  at 
a  distance  of  some  3  to  4  kilometres  from  each  other.  All  the 
night  in  the  great  oppressive  silence  the  landscape  resounds 
with  our  shouts,  but  never  do  we  hear  the  reply  or  the  shout 
for  help  which  we  so  anxiously  await.  Eerily  sounds  Hendrik 's 
name  across  the  island  which  is  now  to  be  his  grave.  When  at 
last  we  have  to  give  up  further  attempts  we  return  to  our  tent, 
tired  and  without  a  word,  creeping  each  to  our  place. 

We  then  hold  counsel  and  decide  unanimously  that  nothing 
more  can  be  done  for  Hendrik,  and  that  we  are  forced  to  con- 
tinue the  journey.  The  cloud-banks  which  have  threatened  us 
from  the  south-east  horizon,  now  fall  on  us  with  rain  and  make 
the  position  in  our  camp  yet  more  untenable. 

It  was  with  heavy  hearts  that  we  broke  camp.  But  before 
our  departure  we  built  three  beacons  on  conspicuous  spots,  one 
on  a  mountain-top  which  was  visible  from  the  whole  of  the 
stony  plain  behind  the  mountains  ;  there  we  left  a  letter  with 
information  as  to  the  route  we  had  taken,  and  where  he  could 
reckon  on  meeting  with  us  during  the  next  eight  days.  An- 
other beacon  with  similar  information  and  a  map  was  deposited 
down  by  Hartz  Sound  ;  finally  we  built  a  beacon  right  off  our 
tent-camp,  and  here  we  deposited  a  little  provision  and 
clothes,  so  that,  in  case  he  should  have  lost  his  way,  he  would  be 
able  to  reach  us  without  difficulty  at  the  camp  of  Warm- 
ing Land. 

Yet  once  more  we  searched  the  surroundings,  as  somehow 
none  of  us  felt  ready  for  the  start.  Subsequently,  on  our 
journey  across  the  fjord  we  searched  with  our  glasses  time  after 
time  the  districts  which  we  had  walked  through  during  these 
196 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

last  few  days.  When  from  the  utmost  headland  on  Warming 
Land  we  turned  in  towards  Daniel  Bruun  Glacier,  the  search 
had  lasted  for  seventv-two  hours  at  one  stretch. 


THE   LAST   DAYS   OF  TRAVELLING   ON    HOTTEN   ICE 

Our  lives  were  now  at  stake  ;  that  was  the  brutal  truth.  So 
we  set  out  on  an  ice  which  was  so  rotten  that  under  all  other 
circumstances  we  should  have  considered  it  entirely  unfit  for 
travelling,  but  forward  we  must  go  and  that  as  speedily  as  pos- 
sible. Three  of  us  had  to  walk  in  front  of  the  dogs,  which 
could  hardly  be  forced  through  the  water,  often  so  deep  that 
they  had  to  swim. 

Twelve  hours  after  our  start  a  seal  was  shot  in  the  lane  of 
tidal  water  along  Warming  Land.  For  a  few  seconds  it  was 
as  if  we  were  torn  out  of  the  oppressive  mood  which  had  settled 
on  us,  as  the  hope  of  a  fat  meal  revived  our  courage.  An  ice- 
floe was  used  for  a  ferry  to  the  point  where  the  seal  had  sunk, 
and  before  long  we  discovered  it,  as  the  water  was  fairly  clear 
and  not  very  deep.  In  great  haste  our  harpoon  of  joined  tent- 
poles  was  made  ready,  but  just  as  we  were  commencing  to  fish 
up  the  seal,  some  large  floes  came  floating,  arranging  them- 
selves as  a  death -guard  above  the  sunken  seal.  It  was  there- 
fore of  no  avail  to  sacrifice  our  night's  sleep  in  a  desperate 
attempt  to  get  it.  The  rain  poured  over  us,  and  that  small 
section  of  the  upper  part  of  our  bodies  which  the  water  had  not 
been  able  to  reach  was  unmercifully  soaked  from  above. 

It  is  well  known  that  even  if  in  reality  we  humans  have 
given  up  every  hope,  nevertheless  we  keep  as  long  as  possible 
an  opening  for  the  very  last  little  possibility.  Thus  we  have 
been  hoping  that  Hendrik  for  some  unaccountable  reason  or 
other  might  have  crossed  Hartz  Sound ;  and  if  this  was  the 
case,  we  would  now  meet  him  on  Warming  Land.  To-day 
this  hope  also  failed  ;  and  now  when  we  must  consider  Hendrik's 
death  to  be  a  fact  we  begin  to  discuss  the  fate  which  overtook 
him.  It  is  possible  that  whilst  asleep  wolves  fell  on  him ;  on 
our  journey  to-day  we  have  seen  three,  one  of  which  came  from 

197 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

the  country  we  had  just  left.  There  is  also  a  possibility  that  he 
may  carelessly  have  tried  to  cross  a  river  at  a  point  where  it  was 
deep,  with  a  current  strong  enough  to  pull  him  down.  Finally 
there  is  the  possibility,  which  I  have  mentioned  before  and 
which  perhaps  is  the  most  likely,  that  he  has  stumbled  and 
shot  himself. 

During  the  walk  to-day  I  had  such  an  experience  of  the 
wolf  as  I  have  never  had  before.  Straying  in  across  land,  I 
heard  slinking  footsteps  behind  me,  and,  as  I  suddenly  wheeled 
round,  I  saw,  about  50  metres  behind,  a  pair  of  round  flaming 
eyes  which  were  fixed  on  me.  At  the  moment  when  our  eyes 
met  the  fire  of  its  glance  was  extinguished,  and  the  animal 
stood  in  a  relaxed  position  with  cowardly  limp  limbs,  void  of  all 
interest  in  me.  I  was  unarmed,  holding  only  a  stick  in  my 
hand,  and  it  was  almost  as  if  the  animal  was  aware  of  my  per- 
fect harmlessness  but  dared  not  show  it.  It  amused  me  for 
awhile  to  probe  its  mind,  with  the  result  that  as  soon  as  I  ad- 
vanced, turning  my  back  on  it,  it  doubled  its  pace  and  followed 
me ;  but  in  the  moment  I  turned,  the  fire  died  out  of  its  eyes 
and  it  tried  to  demonstrate  interests  entirely  unconnected  with 
me.  On  the  other  hand,  if  I  walked  backwards  it  never  fol- 
lowed me,  being  content  to  stop  in  its  expectant  but  indifferent 
position.  This,  then,  was  the  ambush  personified,  and  it  was 
with  a  shudder  that  I  thought  of  poor  Hendrik's  fate. 

July  26th. — We  had  continued  our  journey  last  night  after 
a  few  hours  of  rest  on  the  spot  where  we  lost  the  seal,  and 
now  we  had  again  divided  into  two  parties,  as  there  was  ever 
the  possibility  that  game  might  be  discovered  on  land.  So 
Wulff,  Koch,  and  myself  were  walking  here,  gazing  across  the 
country  void  of  game  until  our  eyes  ached,  when  suddenly  our 
attention  was  drawn  towards  the  sledges,  which  were  driving 
some  way  out  on  the  fjord  and  had  now  made  a  halt.  We 
immediately  directed  our  glasses  on  them  and  discovered  that 
the  great  moment  which  for  many  days  we  had  been  hoping  for 
had  arrived.  A  seal  was  visible  on  the  ice  a  few  kilometres 
from  the  sledges,  and  Inukitsoq  had  already  begun  to  creep 
towards  it.  An  hour  elapsed,  during  which  time  we  hardly 
198 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

dared  to  breathe,  then  at  last  our  tense  nervousness  found  relief 
in  loud  shouts  of  joy  :  Inukitsoq  had  shot  the  seal !  We  had 
now  crawled  along  for  sixteen  hours,  and  naturally  we  took 
this  rare  and  welcome  opportunity  for  camping.  With  great 
trouble  we  sailed  on  small  ice-floes  across  the  land  of  tidal 
waters  and  reached  the  ice,  where  soon  after  we  were  with  our 
comrades. 

We  then  feasted  according  to  all  the  rules  of  the  art.  Our 
craving  for  fat  was  satisfied  by  the  lovely  fresh  blubber,  and 
after  that  we  boiled  rich  blood  soup,  which  gave  us  a  feeling  of 
satiety  such  as  we  had  not  felt  since  Summer  Valley.  The 
dogs  were  given  their  share  of  the  catch,  and  we  had  an  addition 
to  our  provisions  which  was  of  the  greatest  significance  for  us. 

July  27th. — We  are  now  not  far  from  the  point  of  ascent  to 
Daniel  Bruun  Glacier — hardly  more  than  6  kilometres ;  but  in 
spite  of  all  our  efforts  the  distance  covered  on  the  rotten  ice  is 
merely  some  10  kilometres  in  a  day's  journey  of  twelve  to 
fourteen  hours ! 

Early  in  the  morning  we  set  off  again  in  pouring  rain,  but 
the  good  meal  of  yesterday  has  had  its  effect.  Yesterday  we 
had  blood  soup  with  blubber,  mixed  with  a  cup  of  oats,  which 
thickened  it  agreeably  ;  to-day  we  had  boiled  meat. 

Wre  are  all  very  lean  and,  although  we  are  sunburnt  and 
look  healthy,  the  work  of  the  last  few  months  has  left  its  mark 
on  us.  Under  such  circumstances  good  food  put  into  one's 
body  is  like  putting  coals  in  a  stove  ;  so  we  do  not  feel  the  cold 
in  spite  of  the  miserable  rain  and  the  soaked  clothes,  and  all 
through  the  day  we  enjoy  an  inner  warmth  which  reminds  us 
of  the  times  spent  care-free  round  the  flesh-pots  of  home. 

In  the  evening  we  reach  a  deep,  strong  river  which  has 
formed  a  great  delta  on  the  ice,  thus  making  it  impassable. 
We  are  approximately  off  the  point  where  we  must  attempt  to 
bear  up  towards  the  inland-ice,  so  we  make  camp  on  land 
hoping  to  find  a  ford  later  on. 


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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 


THE   POINT   OF   ASCENT   ON   WARMING    LAND 

July  28th.—  Although  the  temperature  has  been  high  and 
the  thermometer  from  midnight  to  noon  has  registered  be- 
tween 0°  and  2°  (Cent.),  we  have  spent  a  cold  night,  as  all  our 
clothes  and  skins  were  wet. 

Never  has  a  night  seemed  to  me  so  endlessly  long ;  drizzle 
alternated  with  snow,  and  I  lay  with  the  barometer  literally  in 
my  hand,  constantly  watching  for  some  little  change  for  the 
better.  But  in  vain !  At  length  I  had  to  settle  down  to  the 
fact  that  in  this  life,  and  not  least  when  travelling,  one  must 
take  the  evil  days  with  the  good ;  when  my  restlessness  had 
found  an  outlet  in  this  way  I  really  did  fall  asleep. 

In  the  morning  we  wake  up  to  a  blissful  day ;  the  rain  has 
stopped  and  the  sky  is  clearing  between  the  heavy  storm- 
clouds.  Dragon  Mountain  and  Mount  Wyatt  shoot  out  of  the 
fog,  standing  with  their  sharp  profiles  as  enormous  sentinels  by 
the  mouth  of  the  fjord,  where  nature  is  now  dressed  in  its 
winter  garb.  In  the  forenoon  the  sun  breaks  through  with 
fine  calm  weather,  and  we  get  busy  to  exploit  its  delicious 
warmth  by  drying  all  our  gear. 

The  promises  of  the  day  increase  as  we  approach  noon,  and 
with  the  good  weather  the  prospects  for  the  future  suddenly 
alter  ;  out  by  the  open  water  of  the  great  river  delta  seven  seals 
crawl  up  on  the  ice,  giving  rich  promises  of  a  good  return 
journey,  with  meat  in  the  pots  every  mortal  day.  A  mere 
couple  of  them,  with  all  their  delicious  blubber,  would  entirely 
alter  the  situation. 

We  have  still  left  seventeen  good  dogs,  which  in  a  wonder- 
ful way  have  gone  through  and  resisted  all  adversities  ;  never 
have  the  dogs  of  any  expedition  been  more  hardy  and  enduring 
than  ours.  Not  even  the  last  month  of  swimming  and  wading 
in  the  ice-cold  water  has  done  them  much  harm. 

Seal-hunting  must  be  attempted,  and  Inukitsoq  crawls  out 
on  the  ice.  To  our  great  disappointment  there  is  no  result. 
The  water  on  the  ice  is  so  deep  that  the  seals  hear  his  splash  at 
200 


^ 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

a  distance,  however  carefully  he  moves,  and  with  a  pang 
through  our  hearts  we  see  one  seal  after  the  other  disappearing 
through  the  ice.  But  also  this  disappointment  we  can  bear  if 
only  the  weather  will  keep  so  that  we  can  get  our  clothes  dried 
and  push  on  upward. 

In  the  afternoon  a  seal  is  shot  in  the  tidal  water  lane,  but, 
as  usual,  it  goes  to  the  bottom.  We  now  know  through  long 
experience  that  it  is  really  hopeless  to  spend  ammunition  on 
this  hunt,  but  for  all  that  we  cannot  help  trying,  for  there  is  a 
bare  possibility  that  some  time  we  may  succeed  ;  and  this  hope 
carries  the  day  every  time  the  round,  shiny  heads  with  the  big, 
staring  eyes  appear  above  the  surface  of  the  water,  scanning  us 
at  a  distance  which  is  within  range.  But  the  fresh  water  pre- 
vents the  seals  from  floating. 

When  we  return  to  our  tent  hungry  and  despondent  after 
this  last  seal-hunt,  some  degree  of  calmness  settles  over  us  when 
we  openly  admit  to  each  other  that  the  hope  of  any  increase  of 
provisions  must  be  considered  dead.  It  is  necessary  to  resign 
ourselves  to  our  fate.  The  only  living  animal  whose  tracks  we 
occasionally  run  across  is  the  craven  and  dastardly  Polar  wolf, 
which  as  a  rule  visits  the  ice-foot  below  the  tent  whilst  we  are 
asleep  to  see  if  there  may  be  something  to  steal.  But  the  wolf 
also  suffers  from  the  terrible  poverty  of  the  country.  Hunting 
on  land  is  attempted,  but  Hendrik's  Island  appears  to  be  the 
border  for  the  game ;  there  at  any  rate  were  hares.  With 
heavy  hearts  we  take  to  the  last  way  out,  killing  one  of  our 
dogs ;  this  happens  for  the  first  time  on  our  journey.  Our 
spare  provisions  for  the  glacier  we  dare  not  touch,  and  we  can- 
not face  a  hard  walking  journey  entirely  without  food. 

To-day  we  certainly  got  something  in  our  stomachs,  but  as 
the  dog  had  been  tough  in  life,  so  also  was  its  flesh  tough  to 
masticate.  And  contrary  to  our  usual  custom  we  take  our 
meal  without  joy. 

Towards  evening  adversity  once  more  sweeps  over  our 
heads.  Big  storm-clouds  come  up  from  the  south-west,  drift- 
ing at  a  hot  pace  in  across  the  steep  -mountains  of  the  fjord ; 
the  barometer  is  falling,  and  to  our  sorrow  the  rain  once  more 

201 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

lashes  the  canvas  of  our  tent,  whilst  our  clothes  go  mouldy  on 
us.  We  heap  big  stones  on  the  canvas,  tighten  the  guy-ropes 
thoroughly,  and  prepare  for  the  worst. 

RAIN   AND   SNOW 

July  29th. — All  through  the  night  heavy  weather  has  raged 
in  the  fjord.  There  was  a  gale  on,  but  fortunately  we  did  not 
feel  this,  being  sheltered  behind  the  mountain.  The  rain  has 
poured  down  as  never  before,  unfortunately  right  through  the 
canvas,  which  is  no  longer  water-tight.  Towards  noon  the 
barometer  goes  up  somewhat  and  the  rain  turns  to  snow.  This 
cooling  generally  means  an  improvement.  The  country  around 
us  is  quite  covered  with  snow,  and  its  appearance  is  autumnal. 

I  give  strict  orders  that  we  must  economize  in  provisions 
as  long  as  we  remain  quiet,  so  we  have  no  food  to-day.  But  at 
five  o'clock  Koch  arrives  to  announce  that  those  in  the  other 
tent  can  bear  it  no  longer.  I  then  distribute  small  rations  of 
musk-ox  tallow  and  promise  them  boiled  dog's  flesh  as  soon  as 
the  weather  permits  us  to  make  a  fire.  The  snow  falls  thicker 
than  before,  but  the  barometer  is  on  the  upward  grade. 

Some  time  during  the  afternoon  I  heard  the  strong  calving 
of  a  glacier  somewhere  inland — an  uncanny  sound.  It  appears 
then  that  a  producing  glacier  must  be  situated  in  the  vicinity 
of  our  point  of  ascent.  From  Dragon  Mountain  we  thought 
we  could  decide  with  certainty  that  Daniel  Bruun  Glacier  was 
connected  with  the  main  glacier  due  north-east,  with  a  direc- 
tion towards  Ryder  Glacier  in  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord,  where 
the  inland-ice,  so  far  as  we  could  see,  merged  evenly  with  the 
horizon.  Harrigan  and  I  were  both  quite  sure  that  favour- 
able conditions  for  ascent  were  to  be  found  here  ;  but  of  course 
we  would  rather  reconnoitre  beforehand.  But  the  rotten  ice 
does  not  permit  of  a  closer  survey  inward,  so  we  must  make  a 
bold  stroke  and  attempt  to  get  up  on  the  inland-ice.  We  have 
no  other  choice  ;  our  many  hunting  excursions  for  hares  have 
202 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

made  a  good  inroad  on  the  ammunition  ;  there  is  a  difference 
in  what  one  gets  in  return  for  the  shot  when  one  shoots  a  musk- 
ox  or  a  hare ! 

By  midnight  we  again  eat  some  pieces  of  musk-ox  tallow. 


STORMY   THOUGHTS 

July  SOthSlst. — Through  the  last  twenty-four  hours  the 
meteorologist  has  reported  fog  after  fog  with  a  constantly 
falling  barometer.  By  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  can  stand 
it  no  longer,  but  seize  my  diary  to  find  an  outlet  for  the  despon- 
dency which  weighs  upon  us  all.  The  snow  falls  heavier  than 
before — soon  it  will  be  heaped  up,  bad  and  heavy  going. 

Nobody  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  it  is  difficult  to  kill 
time ;  we  cannot  sleep  continually,  and,  hungry  as  wolves,  we 
do  not  feel  in  the  mood  for  reading,  though  our  library  yet  con- 
tains the  Bible  and  fragments  of  Snorre. 

We  still  possess  two  tents  and  we  have  pitched  them  both 
so  as  to  shelter  our  possessions  somewhat ;  Wulff ,  Koch,  and 
Harrigan  occupy  the  one  ;  Ajako,  Bosun,  and  I  the  other.  The 
atmosphere  of  our  little  camp  is  not  a  light  one  ;  we  have  felt 
strangely  subdued  since  our  happy  little  Hendrik  disappeared 
in  such  a  mysterious  way.  On  a  day  like  this  everything 
seems  sad. 

Heavy  in  heart,  we  observe  how  every  day  which  goes 
makes  our  good  dogs  thinner  and  thinner ;  we  ourselves  are  not 
much  better  off,  but  we  understand  the  purpose,  so  we  shall 
soon  be  accomplished  in  the  art  of  starving. 

For  the  time  being  we  must  remain  waiting — waiting  to 
get  a  view  of  the  glacier  which  we  must  ascend,  waiting  for 
the  sun  to  dry  all  our  clothes  ;  and  when  we  break  camp  we 
shall  certainly  need  what  strength  we  have  left.  All  of  us 
have  dear  ones  to  whom  we  are  bound  for  life ;  in  their  name 
and  for  their  sake  we  will  sell  our  lives  as  dearly  as  possible  and 
not  give  in  as  long  as  we  can  stand  on  our  legs. 

Temporarily  we  must  endure  and  await.  Evil  times  go 
slowly,  go  slowly  ;  such  is  their  nature. 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

At  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  hunger  forces  us  to  break  in 
on  the  provisions  reserved  for  the  glacier ;  in  good  spirits  we 
boil  oatmeal  gruel  on  the  Primus,  as  it  is  impossible  to  make  a 
fire  outside.  Each  man  receives  two  cups  of  gruel,  and  the 
good  A  vena  oats  warm  our  bodies  like  a  fire,  and  rest  like 
caresses  on  our  empty  stomachs. 

Oh,  how  good  it  is  !  We  are  all  in  a  funny,  childish  mood 
which  reminds  us  of  the  birthdays  of  our  childhood  ;  this  is  the 
result  of  a  little  proper  food.  We  can  keep  up  for  another 
while,  for  as  long  as  we  are  weather-bound  the  point  is  to  put 
physical  energy  on  the  lowest  gear. 

Noon  is  as  a  rule  the  time  when  changes  for  the  better 
occur,  and  we  therefore  always  approach  the  middle  of  the  day 
with  a  feeling  of  excitement.  It  is  thus  also  to-day.  At 
twelve  o'clock  the  weather  clears  and  a  couple  of  seals  crawl  as 
usual  up  on  the  ice  some  way  from  the  tent.  They  catch  fleas 
and  roll  happily  about  in  the  snow,  occasionally  glancing  to- 
wards the  camp,  then  again  stretching  out  at  full  length, 
drunk  with  sleep,  taking  their  sun-bath  in  the  cool  afternoon 
with  closed  eyes.  Previously  we  were  happy  when  they 
popped  up,  now  we  have  begun  to  hate  them. 

After  the  last  attempt  Harrigan  declared  that  he  considers 
it  hopeless  to  hunt  seal  through  the  deep  water ;  but  Ajako, 
who  does  not  know  the  feeling  of  giving  up  as  long  as  there  is 
the  faintest  possibility  of  success,  declares  that  in  spite  of  all 
he  will  attempt  to  wade  out  into  the  water.  For  this  reason 
we  cook  seal  meat  and  a  cup  of  coffee  and  the  situation  immedi- 
ately seems  lighter.  Alas,  how  we  humans  are  ruled  by  our 
stomachs  and  the  little  ballast  which  they  claim  ! 

I  admit  it,  dear  reader — one  does  become  materialistic 
when  food  so  extensively  claims  one's  thoughts.  But  the  crav- 
ing for  food  is  far  from  being  a  sovereign  ruler.  Many 
thoughts  go  out  to  one's  nearest  relatives,  and  it  is  the  longing 
for  home  and  the  thought  of  the  dear  ones  which  is  the  real 
source  of  strength. 

So  one  drowns  in  an  ocean  of  good  intentions,  and  if  only 
204 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

one  succeeds  in  realizing  a  small  fraction  of  them,  one  will 
become  a  shining  paradigm  for  wondering  humanity.  My 
memories  of  the  country  are  my  strongest  tie.  I  have  never 
felt  really  homely  in  the  flats  in  Copenhagen,  for  I  never  get 
more  out  of  them  than  just  the  temporary  and  occasional 
which  their  Danish  name  implies* — temporary  life  in  a  colony 
in  a  street  which  in  no  way  concerns  me,  between  strange 
people  without  the  stamp  of  personality,  without  rest,  without 
the  inducement  to  enjoy  home  life  which  only  country  life 
offers. 

A  big  town  is  like  a  bird-mountain  made  by  man  ;  it  is  well 
enough  for  a  time,  but  one  soon  has  enough  of  the  noise,  of  the 
screeching  auks,  the  whistling  guillemots,  the  greedy  gulls, 
and  from  one's  inmost  heart  one  longs  for  the  lonely  nest  of 
the  wild  duck  by  a  quiet  distant  lake,  or  out  amongst  the 
rocks  of  the  ocean  where  eiderducks  ride  the  crested  waves. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  Ajako  returns  from  the  seal-hunt 
with  no  other  result  than  a  wetting  to  the  skin.  We  warm 
him  with  a  cup  of  tea  and  lend  him  some  of  our  garments 
until  his  own  shall  be  dried ;  but  yet  the  thawing  snow  falls 
quickly  and  unmercifully. 

Next  morning  I  wake  up  about  three  o'clock,  and  no 
longer  hear  the  snow  pattering  against  the  canvas.  I  turn  out 
and  find  to  my  great  joy  that  the  snow  has  ceased  to  fall  and 
the  sky  is  clear,  though  as  yet  it  hangs  low  about  the  mountain. 
The  landscape  is  wintry  white,  so  dazzling  that  one  can  scarcely 
keep  one's  eyes  open,  and  even  the  rotten  water-logged  ice  is 
hidden  under  a  beautiful  spread  of  snow.  I  boil  coffee  and 
arouse  my  comrades.  Again  a  couple  of  seals  have  crawled  up 
on  the  ice,  and  though  they  be  looked  upon  merely  as  will-o'- 
the-wisps  on  a  marsh,  they  represent  nevertheless  some  little 
possibility. 

Yesterday  we  had  to  kill  three  dogs  because  of  the  lack  of 
food  for  both  men  and  dogs.  So  in  the  beautiful  morning  we 
make  a  big  fire  and  boil  the  flesh. 

*  Flat:  Danish  leilighed,  which  means  literally  "occasion." — TEAKS. 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

By  noon  yet  another  seal-hunt  is  attempted,  which,  as 
usual,  for  three  or  four  hours  puts  us  into  a  state  of  violent 
excitement ;  once  more  it  is  Ajako  who  risks  his  skin,  but  the 
only  result  is  another  drenching. 

So  we  exploit  the  good  weather  by  freighting  the  baggage 
across  the  big,  rapid  river  by  which  we  have  camped  ;  and  the 
first  party  drives  it  on  the  new  snow  up  to  the  edge  of  the 
inland-ice,  6  kilometres  from  our  camp. 


YET   ANOTHER   SEAL 

August  1st. — The  new  month  started  unusually  hopelessly. 
Pouring  rain,  no  dog  food  if  we  were  not  to  broach  the  glacier 
provision,  and  only  a  few  lumps  of  worn-out  dog  meat  for  our- 
selves ;  but  towards  noon  the  weather  unexpectedly  clears. 
As  usual,  a  seal  crawled  up,  though  at  such  a  distance  that  it 
could  not  be  shot  from  land.  Although  the  ice  after  the  last 
days  of  pouring  rain  had  become  mortally  dangerous  to  walk 
on,  Ajako  again  volunteered  to  make  an  attempt.  By  a 
roundabout  track  he  approached  the  seal,  for  the  pools  of 
water  were  now  covered  with  ice  which  broke  under  his  feet 
with  such  a  clatter  that  the  seal  could  hear  it  far  away.  It 
took  some  time  to  get  within  shooting  distance,  and  also  an 
admirable  patience.  When  the  seal  suddenly  raised  its  head 
and  began  looking  around,  Ajako  had  to  lie  down  on  his 
stomach  in  the  deep,  cold  water  and  remain  there  absolutely 
motionless  for  minutes  at  a  stretch,  until  the  seal  once  more 
went  to  sleep.  Most  of  us  were  so  excited  about  the  result  of 
the  hunt  that  we  could  not  bear  to  look  at  the  many  stirring 
details  ;  we  went  into  our  tent  and  flung  ourselves  down,  un- 
able to  get  up  a  conversation  ;  our  thoughts  were  incessantly 
with  our  comrade  who  was  executing  a  masterpiece.  The  shot 
banged  and  we  rushed  out  of  the  tent,  the  seal  did  not  stir,  and 
a  moment  later  Ajako  was  beside  it  and  had  seized  it  by  the 
hind  flappers. 

As  I  am  writing  this,  both  men  and  dogs  are  happy  and  full, 
200 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

and  yet  more  than  half  of  the  seal  has  been  put  aside  for  the 
journey  on  the  glacier  ! 

The  following  day  we  wake  up  under  a  flaming  sky,  with 
storm-warning  clouds  drifting  before  a  strong  south-wester  in 
the  upper  air.  The  temperature  is  high,  swinging  between  4° 
and  8'5°  (Cent.),  and  two  strongly  developed  parhelions  with 
rings  indicate  great  unrest  in  the  air,  so  that  once  more  we  must 
postpone  our  start.  Sure  enough,  in  the  afternoon  the  rain 
pours  down  again,  and,  as  usual,  we  have  to  creep  into  our 
tents ;  but  the  short  periods  of  sunshine  and  a  temperature  in 
the  shade  which  has  been  right  up  to  9°  (Cent.)  has  helped  us 
so  that  at  last  the  clothes  we  must  use  for  the  journey  along  the 
inland-ice  have  been  examined  and  dried. 

As  everything  is  now  ready  for  the  journey  and  we  are  only 
waiting  for  the  weather  to  clear  in  order  to  start,  we  build  by 
the  great  river  a  beacon  in  memory  of  Hendrik.  Deeply 
moved,  we  here  remember  our  deceased  comrade,  and  whilst 
the  others  stand  about  the  beacon  with  lowered  flags,  I  give  the 
following  memorial  address,  first  in  Danish  and  then  in 
Greenlandic  : 

"  Somewhere  in  my  diary  I  have  written  that,  when  a  little 
handful  of  men  like  us  live  ourselves  by  degrees  into  a  unity 
on  the  harsh  and  desolate  coasts,  we  form,  as  it  were,  a  small 
society  of  our  own.  The  great  living  world  which  we  left  soon 
becomes  so  distant  as  to  exist  for  us  merely  in  our  thoughts 
and  in  our  longings. 

"Our  home  is  the  little  tent  where,  tired  and  hungry,  we 
gather  round  our  experiences  after  the  toil  of  the  day,  and  our 
country  is  that  casual  strip  of  coast  where  for  the  night  we 
settle  down. 

'"We  live  life  as  it  must  be  lived  in  these  surroundings, 
simply  and  primitively  ;  we  execute  our  task  as  conscientiously 
as  each  man  knows  how,  and  in  the  solving  of  the  problems 
which  the  expedition  has  set  us  we  learn  to  know  each  other 
more  intimately  than  do  people  as  a  rule. 

'  The  best  qualities  of  each  man  here  meet  with  the  weaker 
ones,  but  we  help  each  other  according  to  our  ability,  and, 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

with  the  good  comradeship  and  the  joy  of  labour  which  from 
the  outset  we  made  it  a  point  of  honour  to  esteem  on  this  ex- 
pedition, surely  we  have  all  experienced  that,  in  spite  of  all 
differences  between  us  in  mind  and  in  character,  for  every  day 
that  goes,  for  every  good  result  achieved,  and  for  every  diffi- 
culty surmounted,  we  grow  in  unity,  are  tied  to  each  other 
with  closer  bonds  and  love  each  other  more  dearly. 

"  What  concerns  one  concerns  us  all.  For  here  where  we 
have  only  each  other  to  fall  back  on,  we  have  a  common  fate, 
and  common  are  all  the  dispensations  allotted  to  us. 

"  When  commonly  we  feel  it  so,  how  obvious  then  that 
our  unity  should  manifest  itself  yet  more  strongly  when  the  un- 
usual happens — especially  when  a  catastrophe  strikes  down  a 
comrade. 

"  Never  shall  I  forget  the  atmosphere  in  our  tent  during 
the  days  when  we  searched  for  Hendrik,  constantly  hoping 
that  he  might  reappear  from  behind  some  hill.  The  uncanni- 
ness,  the  feeling  of  desperate  helplessness,  at  not  being  able  to 
do  anything,  a  strain  on  the  nerves  which  made  us  all  start, 
listening  to  every  unusual  sound  which  broke  the  great  stillness 
about  us. 

"  In  vain  we  searched,  in  vain  we  stared  our  eyes  tired 
across  mountains  and  doughs.  Hendrik  was  destined  never 
to  return  to  share  the  joys  of  the  home-coming  with  the  rest  of 
us.  Never  was  he  to  reap  the  reward  for  all  his  faithful  help- 
fulness after  toil,  and  his  happy  laughter  will  no  more  sound 
for  us  during  the  stir  of  camp-breaking. 

"  It  would  be  superfluous  in  this  modest  memorial  address 
to  say  anything  about  Hendrik  himself.  We  all  knew  him  for 
a  brother,  and  to  know  him  meant  to  love  him. 

'  We  know  how  out  of  nothing  he  created  his  position, 
which  amongst  his  people  and  in  his  circle  was  a  leading  one, 
and  we  know  with  what  faithfulness  and  interest  he  executed 
all  his  duties. 

"  In  Thule  his  place  will  be  empty  and  it  will  be  difficult  to 
fill,  and  never  shall  I  have  a  helper  there  who  in  such  a  beautiful 
way  will  understand  how  to  make  the  interests  of  the  station 
208 


SHERARD  OSBORNE  FJORD 

his  own.  In  Thule  he  found  a  field  of  labour  which  entirely 
engrossed  him. 

"  During  all  his  life  he  had  led  a  nomadic  existence — during 
the  Danmark  expedition  on  the  east  coast,  where  he  had  rich 
opportunities  to  make  himself  useful  to,  and  beloved  by,  all  his 
comrades  ;  and  later  on  in  various  positions  on  such  far-stretch- 
ing coasts  as  from  Cape  Farewell,  and  now  to  Greenland's 
northern  extremity. 

"The  little  orphan  boy  from  Rittenbenk  was  to  die  not 
merely  as  the  Greenlander,  but  altogether  as  the  man  who 
traversed  and  learned  to  know  the  greatest  stretch  of  his 
Fatherland's  coast. 

"Peace  had  begun  to  settle  over  him,  and  he  was  just  on 
the  point  of  reaping  the  fruit  of  many  years  of  industriousness, 
to  build  house  and  home,  and  for  ever  settle  down  in  the  camp 
which  he  had  chosen  so  far  north — then  misfortune  overtook 
him  and  struck  him  down,  here,  far  from  friends  and  relatives. 

"  The  Polar  Eskimo  has  a  proverb  which  says  that  no  man 
will  settle  down  and  take  up  new  land  for  good  until  death 
overtakes  him  and  ties  his  body  to  a  stone  mound ;  first  then 
is  it  possible  to  attach  a  man  to  a  country.  I  therefore  propose 
that  we  hold  to  this  idea,  born  by  the  enormous  spirit  of  liberty 
of  primitive  man,  and  to  this  island,  where  Hendrik  found  his 
grave,  give  his  name. 

'*  Hendrik  was  a  Christian  man  ;  we  all  know  how  fond  he 
was  of  singing  his  hymns  when  occasionally  his  mind  was  sad  ; 
so  before  we  lose  sight  for  ever  of  the  land  where  he  fought 
the  last  big  fight  alone,  we  will  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  his 
own  tongue,  as  a  final  farewell  from  his  old  comrades." 


o  '20'.) 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY  ACROSS  THE 
INLAND-ICE 


CAMP    1.— DANIEL   BRUTTN   GLACIER 

AUGUST  4th-5th. — Fortunately  we  had  gradually  carried 
up  so  much  baggage  to  the  edge  of  the  glacier  that  the 
"remainder  could  be  taken  in  one  load.  The  distance  from 
the  river  to  the  sledges  was  7  kilometres,  which  we  covered  in 
five  hours.  I  must  admit  that  none  of  us  is  in  the  condition  in 
which  he  ought  to  be  when  he  faces  a  walk  of  400  kilometres. 
Especially  Wulff  and  Koch  are  very  tired  after  the  compara- 
tively quick  walk  and  complain  of  the  smallness  of  the  food 
ration  which,  because  of  our  critical  situation,  I  had  been  forced 
to  distribute  to  the  expedition.  But  they  fully  agree  with  me 
as  to  the  necessity  for  this  temporary  period  of  starvation.  We 
are  now  in  possession  of  provision,  divided  in  half -rations,  for 
twenty  days,  besides  musk-ox  meat  and  some  blubber  and  seal 
meat  reserved  for  the  dogs. 

Because  of  the  strenuous  march  upward  we  therefore  cook 
not  merely  a  panful  of  oat-gruel,  but  also  a  solid  meal  of  seal 
meat.  The  pemmican  is  not  yet  touched,  although  the  tempta- 
tion is  great ;  we  must  economize,  for  the  position  is  not  with- 
out seriousness.  We  must  remember  that  it  was  only  from  a 
distant  height  that  we  had  a  view  of  the  homeward  route  which, 
so  far,  has  led  us  to  this  place ;  only  in  a  couple  of  days  will  it 
be  proved  whether  we  are  on  the  main  glacier  itself.  Because 
of  the  weather,  we  had  had  to  abandon  any  thought  of  recon- 
noitring during  the  time  we  spent  by  the  great  river. 

We  ascended  Daniel  Bruun  Glacier  at  a  steepish  point,  and 
after  a  march  of  2  kilometres  we  had  reached  a  height  of  some 
•210 


ASCENDING    THE    INLAND-ICE,    WITH    A    VIEW    OF    ST.    GEORGE    F.IOBD 


WE    ARE    STOPPED    I1V    LAND    Willi     STEEP    J-LOI'K^ 


r 


1 : 


/  .Vv. •/.,„■  Z™*£  6   Porsild's  Nunatak 

:  //,•//,//•,/,-  Land.  7    The  Midgard  Snakf. 

J J/tutz .Sound  8    The  Devil' t  Glowjh 

4-  Wtwming  Limit  .9    Iti/dar  Utacier 

<5  Steertsbu,  niccier  JO  Wulff  Land 


11  OsieiJiZd   Gl.     ' '  14  ZKP.XoiA   /j,,,-,/ 

12  Jungcrseji    iii.        15   TfuThom&ejt,   l-'Jirnl 

13  Frcr.cA.ri.   LajuL     Iff    O.B.Bocjcpld   Ijn-d 


THE  UPPER  MAP  SIK.WS  THE  NORTH  COAST  OF  GREENLAND  AND  THE  DISTRICT  ROUND 
INDEPENDENCE  FJORD  WITH  PEARY  CHANNEL,  AS  KNOWN  PREVIOUS  TO  THE  FIRST 
AND    SECOND    THOLE    EXPEDITION 

IIIK    LOWER    MAP   SHOWS    THE    SAME    DISTRICT    MAPPED    Bf    THE    THULE    EXPEDITION 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

900  metres.  There  was  no  river,  and  with  surprising  rapidity 
we  got  on  to  "dry  snow."  We  then  camped,  and  Inukitsoq 
and  I  drove  the  two  sledges  with  half-loads  further  in  on  the 
inland-iee  for  the  purpose  of  reconnoitring.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  5th  of  August  we  succeeded  in  penetrating  5  kilo- 
metres further  in  through  deep,  heavy  snow,  and  at  a  height  of 
about  1,400  metres  we  obtained  a  view  which  revealed  to  us  the 
inland-ice  as  far  as  we  could  see.  Due  north-east,  nearly  4  kilo- 
metres off  our  course,  stretched  a  big  cleft  with  high  moun- 
tains on  both  sides,  but  as  far  as  could  be  seen  from  our  look-out, 
it  was  completely  filled  with  snow  further  in,  and  merged  into 
the  glacier.  By  the  head  of  the  fjord,  on  the  southern  side, 
shot  in  a  long  narrow  stretch  of  land  which,  furthest  away,  more 
and  more  took  on  the  appearance  of  Nunatak,  but  later  on  it 
merged  entirely  into  the  inland-ice.  Between  this  tongue  of 
land  and  the  cleft  we  could  discern  a  bridge  which,  without 
break,  appeared  to  run  onto  the  main  glacier.  Here  the 
attempt  must  be  made.  The  ground  was  somewhat  hilly,  and 
masses  of  loose  snow  were  heaped  up  after  the  many  days  of 
bad  weather.  Although  nothing  could  be  decided  with  cer- 
tainty, we  agreed  to  continue  inward,  and  with  this  conclusion 
we  returned  to  our  comrades,  whom  we  roused  to  a  feast  of 
pemmican,  oats,  biscuits,  and  coffee. 

The  temperature  to-day  in  the  various  places  we  have  passed 
has  been  as  follows  :  The  river  by  the  fjord  was  5°  (Cent.) ;  the 
inland-ice,  at  a  height  of  760  metres  above  the  sea-level,  was 
minus  12°  (Cent.);  and  at  our  look-out,  1,140  metres  above 
sea-level,  minus  4°  (Cent.). 


CAMP   2.— DANIEL    BRUUN    GLACIER 
(1,300  metres  above  sea-level). 

August  6th. — We  succeeded  yesterday  in  working  our  way 
10  kilometres  in  on  the  inland-ice,  but  it  is  tough  and  slow  going 
through  the  snow.  It  is  a  good  help  that  we  have  over-runners 
to  the  sledges,  for  the  dogs  quickly  grow  tired. 

In  spite  of  all  our  reconnoitring,  we  have  not  yet  succeeded 

211 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

in  getting  a  clear  view  of  the  route,  but  the  mere  fact  that  we 
are  now  so  far  in  that  our  return  to  St.  George  Fjord  is  improb- 
able is  a  great  stimulant.  Yesterday  we  lost  sight  of  the  dead 
fjord ;  in  spite  of  all  its  beauty  we  parted  from  it  without  sad- 
ness. The  sea-ice,  with  its  thousands  of  greater  and  smaller 
water-holes,  looks  from  the  glacier  like  a  large  mosaic,  until  the 
distance  becomes  so  great  that  it  all  disappears  as  a  small  bluish 
lake. 

The  land  behind  St.  George  Fjord  extends  very  far.  Ahead 
of  us  the  route  which  we  must  follow  is  unfortunately  already 
cut  by  the  dark  clouds,  which  always  indicate  land  and  not  ice. 
Possibly  we  may  meet  with  more  glacier  bridges  to  make  a 
passage  between  the  cleft-land  on  our  north  side  and  the  large 
new  land  to  the  south-west.  If,  however,  we  should  happen  to 
meet  with  land,  we  must  get  across  it  with  the  baggage  on  our 
backs. 

We  are  toiling  in  the  heat ;  the  thermometer  registers 
between  minus  2  3°  and  minus  4°  (Cent.). 


CAMP  3.— THE  MOUNTAIN  CAULDRON 

(Distance,  13  kilometres). 

That  which  we  have  feared  the  whole  time  has  now  hap- 
pened :  Daniel  Bruun  Glacier  is  merely  a  local  glacier — of  great 
extent,  true  enough,  but  nevertheless  bordered  by  land  on  all 
sides. 

In  the  afternoon,  about  four  o'clock,  we  sighted  land  right 
across  our  course.  A  quick  reconnoitring  convinced  us  that  it 
was  the  cleft  which  we  had  already  had  for  a  couple  of  days  to 
the  north-east  of  us.  At  the  point  where,  from  the  look-out 
the  other  day,  I  had  believed  it  to  be  filled  with  snow  merging 
into  the  inland-ice  itself,  it  suddenly  trends  to  the  south-west, 
uniting  with  the  land  behind  St.  George  Fjord.  The  cleft, 
which  has  a  depth  of  between  600  and  700  metres  above  sea- 
level,  is  everywhere  edged  by  naked,  steep  mountains  which 
appear  to  debar  any  possibility  of  descent.  Inukitsoq,  who  has 
often  proved  himself  in  possession  of  a  sure  instinct  with  regard 
212 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

to  the  finding  of  a  road,  is  now  sent  out  to  reconnoitre.  He 
has  an  uncommonly  independent  nature,  makes  his  dispositions 
wisely  and  with  a  sure  instinct  for  doing  just  the  right  thing. 
He  succeeds  also  in  solving  this  fateful  problem  as  after  a  run 
of  a  couple  of  hours  on  skis  he  finds  a  place  which  later  on  proves 
to  be  the  only  way  down  on  the  whole  extent  of  the  cleft.  This 
result,  so  significant  for  us  in  our  present  position,  was  some- 
thing in  the  way  of  a  pathfinding  miracle,  which  saved  us  from 
turning  back  to  the  fjord,  where  we  should  have  been  reduced 
to  living  on  small,  lean  sea-scorpions  and  rattlewort. 

It  was  obviously  not  with  enthusiasm  that  we,  from  the 
sorely-gained  height  of  1,300  to  1,400  metres,  drove  down  into 
a  wild  and  desolate  mountain  cauldron,  where  once  more  we 
had  to  start  from  the  beginning,  bearing  upwards  on  some 
snow-bare  mountains  where  driving  is  impossible.  But  the 
thought  of  the  return  journey  instantly  revived  our  spirits ;  we 
could  at  last  see  quite  plainly  the  main  glacier  ahead,  which  was 
to  be  our  road  home. 


CAMP   4.— THE   DEVIL'S   CLEFT 

August  7th. — The  distance  was  only  3  kilometres,  but,  as 
everyone  knows,  one  cannot  measure  work  according  to  the 
distance  covered ;  the  transport  was  difficult  and  of  long  dura- 
tion. We  found  a  camping-ground  on  the  other  side  of  the 
cauldron,  and  a  sledge  was  sent  out  with  a  double  team  to 
reconnoitre  and  to  freight  part  of  the  baggage  along. 

In  spite  of  the  obstacles  of  the  land,  it  did  not  seem  too 
difficult  to  pass.  Partly  across  firns,  partly  across  snowdrifts, 
to-day  we  got  out  of  the  cauldron.  Later  on  we  reached  a 
mountain  where  we  ourselves  in  several  journeys  had  to  carry 
the  baggage  across  to  another  firn  on  the  north-east  side  of  the 
cauldron,  and  here  we  stayed  for  the  time  being  to  await  the 
result  of  the  two  men's  reconnoitring. 

The  sun  is  shining  and  we  have  the  mildest  of  summer 
weather  with  a  temperature  of  upwards  of  4°  (Cent.).  It  is  as 
if,  after  an  evil  dream,  one  approaches  a  new  day  with  the  gle;un- 

213 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

ing  light  of  the  inland-ice  ahead.  The  road  to  the  white  glacier 
leads  homeward,  to  all  that  for  which,  our  work  accomplished, 
we  are  now  longing.  Home-sickness  has  appeared  suddenly 
now  when  the  day  is  no  longer  swallowed  up  by  the  fight  for 
food ;  for  it  is  a  blessing  to  know  that  every  day  there  will  be 
something  to  eat,  even  though  the  rations  are  small. 

To-day  we  wearily  struggled  on  to  the  mountain,  from 
which  we  had  a  mighty  view  across  a  wild  canyon  which  we 
named  "  The  Devil's  Cleft."  On  both  sides  500  metres  high 
mountains  fall  steeply  down  into  a  barren,  brownish  valley, 
through  which  a  melancholy  little  brook  winds ;  the  glacier 
hangs  out  over  the  ravines  like  waves  stiffened  in  horror  over 
the  mute  uncanniness  which  rests  over  this  eerie  landscape  in 
the  midst  of  eternal  winter. 

No  sign  of  life,  not  a  bird,  not  a  plant,  softens  the  impression 
of  this  utmost  desolation,  where  nothing  but  a  few  lichens  have 
sucked  strength  enough  from  the  warmth  of  the  sun  to  clothe 
the  sharp  stones  with  a  grey,  modest  cover.  Never,  it  appears 
to  me,  have  I  experienced  anything  so  distant  and  isolated  as 
this  wild  landscape,  fighting  its  lonely,  stubborn  fight  against 
the  glaciers  which  from  all  sides  threaten  to  pour  down  over  it. 

Thus,  whilst  century  follows  century,  everything  changes. 
Even  this  desert  has  had  its  adventures,  for  we  find  great,  beau- 
tiful branches  of  coral,  bearing  witness  that  even  here  in  this 
heart  of  winter  was  once  a  tropic  climate,  where  the  waves  of  a 
living  ocean,  driven  by  mild  breaths  of  wind,  merrily  lapped 
across  the  stubborn  remains  of  a  bygone  period. 

There  is  a  peculiar  atmosphere  in  the  tent  to-day.  Perhaps 
it  is  the  bright  prospects,  and  the  weather,  which  at  last  seems 
willing  to  put  an  end  to  the  nervousness  which,  under  eternal 
changes  between  rain,  snow,  and  fog,  has  endured  for  the  last 
three  weeks ;  both  the  internal  and  external  disquiet  have  given 
way  to  a  restful  security,  and  when  we  are  calm  for  a  little  while 
idyllic  feelings  abide  in  our  tent.  During  the  forced  daily 
marches  there  somehow  is  no  time  for  quiet  communion  ;  but  in 
an  afternoon  like  this  one  draws  breath  and  plans  the  work  of 
all  the  collections  which  now  we  struggle  to  get  safely  in  har- 
214 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

bour.  The  inland-ice  is  never  a  safe  route  ;  if  anything  happens 
here  all  results  disappear  without  a  trace,  and  all  our  toil  and 
stubborn  fights  for  food  have  then  been  to  no  purpose  whatever. 
The  precious  articles  have  now  been  freighted  through  water 
and  whirlpools,  through  clefts  and  over  glacier  edges,  and  imme- 
diately another  aspect  of  the  problem  must  be  faced.  The  col- 
lections must  be  brought  forward  to  mankind,  and  all  this 
makes  them  doubly  precious  to  one. 

Outside  the  tent  Wulff  is  sitting  preparing  the  only  vege- 
tation we  have  found  so  far  here  in  the  Devil's  Cleft,  grey 
lichens  covering  some  of  the  stones.  These  plants,  which  grow 
right  on  the  very  stone  blocks,  are  surely  unique  in  contenting 
themselves  with  so  little,  and  I  therefore  get  Wulff  to  tell  me 
something  about  their  biology. 

Lichens  are  organisms  consisting  of  an  alga  and  a  fungus 
which  have  united  for  the  benefit  of  mutual  housekeeping.  The 
alga  is  that  shareholder  in  the  limited  company  which  is  the  sole 
possessor  of  an  ability  to  create  organic  substance  out  of 
inorganic  matter.  The  fungus,  on  the  contrary,  forms  the 
small  aerial  roots  with  which  the  lichen  clings  to  the  substance. 
The  colour  of  the  lichens,  as  we  see  it,  is  a  result  of  the  respec- 
tive colours  of  the  alga  and  the  fungus. 

The  lichens  are  highly  impervious  to  drought,  warmth,  and 
cold,  and  are  oidy  able  to  vegetate  in  turgid  condition,  but  are 
at  rest  when  it  is  dry.  In  this  climate  they  probably  vegetate 
merely  a  few  days  in  the  year,  and  a  patch  as  big  as  a  penny  can 
often  be  more  than  a  hundred  years  old  in  this  neighbourhood, 
where  vegetation  is  at  rest  for  350  days  of  the  year.  Their  chief 
nourishment  they  get  from  the  stone  through  its  slight  crum- 
bling, and  that  cannot  be  much.  The  lichen  thus  is  a  plant 
which  in  all  its  meanness  has  eternity  before  it. 


CAMP   5.— THE    MIDGARD   SNAKE 

August  9th. — We  broke  camp  on  the  9th  in  the  morning, 
and  drove  slowly  up  the  great  firns  of  the  Devil's  Cleft  to  the 
north-east.      We  ascended  at  an  even  gradient,  groaning  under 

215 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

a  temperature  of  4°  (Cent.)  and  dazzled  by  the  light,  which, 
reflected  from  the  newly-fallen  snow,  hurt  our  eyes.  At  a 
height  of  1,000  metres  we  took  an  observation.  We  now  have 
a  beautiful  and  grand  view  across  the  remarkable  canyon  and 
Nunatak — land  which,  during  the  last  few  days,  we  have  dis- 
covered across  our  course.  It  stretches  like  a  brim  of  20  to  30 
kilometres  broad  from  the  land  behind  St.  George  Fjord,  with 
great  local  glaciers  on  one  side  and  the  inland-ice  itself  on  the 
other.  In  an  enormous  arch  it  bars  our  way  also  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord,  and  we  therefore  give  it  the 
name  of  the  Midgard  Snake.  There  is  no  way  outside  ;  after  a 
short  reconnoitring,  we  take  a  bite  of  the  sour  apple  and  once 
more  leave  the  glacier  to  drive  down  on  the  brim.  We  find  a 
fine,  even  ascent  and  immediately  after  a  cup  of  tea  commence 
transporting  the  goods  to  the  inland-ice. 

The  land  was  dry  and  even  to  walk  on,  but  barren  and  naked 
as  a  desert ;  not  even  a  tiny  river  enlivened  it — everything  was 
completely  dried  up  despite  the  great  glaciers  with  their  inclines 
towards  the  country  on  both  sides.  It  was  one  of  the  so-called 
karst  landscapes  where  all  water  oozes  down  into  the  soil. 
The  vegetation  was  accordingly.  We  found  a  few  poppies, 
some  of  which  were  yet  in  bloom,  small  stunted  grasses,  mosses 
and  lichens,  but  no  animal  life.  Only  a  wolf  had  a  long  time 
ago  left  his  imprint  in  the  clay  near  the  place  where  we  pitched 
our  tent  to  cook  a  ration  of  pemmican  gruel. 

After  the  meal  three  men  returned  to  our  point  of  descent, 
while  Koch  and  I  continued  to  transport  the  baggage  to  the 
glacier. 

On  our  walk  we  found  the  jaw-bone  of  a  musk-ox,  which 
appeared  to  be  more  than  a  hundred  years  old.  Close  to  this 
was  a  fossilized  piece  of  an  octopus  from  the  Silurian  period. 
These  two  proofs  of  former  life,  the  musk-ox  and  the  octopus, 
have  between  them  a  period  of  probably  at  least  ten  million 
years— a  good  mouthful  on  which  to  exercise  active  imagination. 

After  twenty-four  hours  of  toil  with  the  transport  we  were 
once  more  gathered  by  the  tent,  sleepy  and  hungry,  but  all  in 
good  spirits  and  with  a  good  conscience,  knowing  that  in  spite 
216 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

of  the  difficulties  we  had  made  22  kilometres  forward,  half  the 
distance  having  been  traversed  twice. 

Sleep  is  sweet  as  honey  and  milk  after  such  a  day  ! 

Seven  hours  later  we  were  again  in  harness.  We  were  in 
for  a  race  where  the  lives  of  the  dogs  were  the  stake,  for  we 
had  only  two  feeds  left  and  the  country  south  of  Humboldt's 
Glacier  was  yet  350  kilometres  away. 

Seven  hundred  metres  above  sea-level  with  the  inland-ice  on 
all  sides,  and  notwithstanding  this  we  have  3°  of  warmth  (Cent.) 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon !  Some  time  elapsed  in 
getting  properly  going  again,  for  tender  were  our  feet  after  the 
many  small,  sharp  stones,  and  stiff  were  shoulders,  neck,  and 
back  after  the  heavy  burdens.  But  I  must  admit  that  every 
man  accepts  it  all  cheerfully,  and  we  try  to  stimulate  each  other 
by  poking  fun  at  the  miserable  appearance  which  many  of  us 
present.  There  is  nothing  for  it  but  sucking  nourishment  from 
one's  humour  during  these  days ;  home-sickness  turns  us  into 
giants  forcing  our  way  through  all  difficulties,  and  we  do 
manage  surprisingly  well.  On  our  meagre  rations  we  toil  like 
Icelandic  ponies,  or  perhaps  rather  like  hunger-hardened 
coolies.  For  it  cannot  be  denied  that  we  get  hungry  all  too 
soon  after  the  meals  which  we  now  eat  with  an  almost  religious 
solemnity. 

We  must  try  to  get  out  of  this  desert  as  soon  as  possible.  A 
depressing  and  barren  land  where  the  deep  silence  is  unbroken 
even  by  the  little  chirp  of  a  bird  or  the  low  murmur  of  a  brook  ; 
a  remarkable  piece  of  snow  and  ice-bare  karst  which  might  be 
moved  into  the  midst  of  the  Libyan  Desert  without  causing  a 
break  in  the  unity  of  the  landscape. 

We  have  almost  reached  the  edge  of  the  inland-ice ;  in  a 
couple  of  hours  this  toilsome  transport  will  be  a  mere  memory, 
and  then  at  length  the  journey  across  the  next  and  last  big 
desert  will  commence  in  earnest. 


217 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

THE    EDGE    OF   THE   INLAND-ICE 
(588  metres  above  sea-level). 

August  10th. — We  reached  the  edge  of  the  inland-ice  at 
half -past  one,  after  crossing  a  last  turbulent  moraine  river  which 
we  had  to  bridge  with  the  sledges. 

This  moment,  so  significant  for  the  expedition,  was  cele- 
brated with  an  additional  meal,  outside  the  rations,  and  an  extra 
strong  cup  of  coffee. 

Dead  calm,  a  clear  sky,  sun,  a  temperature  of  1°  (Cent.), 
satiated  men,  sun-gleams  in  our  souls  ! 

During  the  meal  we  recalled  in  memory  that  American 
National-Economist  who  proposed  that  food  and  not  gold 
should  be  the  standard  of  value  in  life.  As  far  as  I  remember 
he  proposed  that  edible  money  should  be  made  out  of  wheat, 
for  what  is  a  millionaire  with  all  his  gold  in  a  desert  like  this, 
and  what  would  we  be  without  food? 


CAMP   6.— ON   THE   INLAND-ICE 

(900  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  4  kilometres). 

We  make  camp  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  after  the 
longest  day's  journey  we  have  had ;  10  kilometres  of  it  went 
across  land  bare  of  snow,  wherefore  we  had  to  make  the  distance 
twice.     We  got  to  rest  at  one  o'clock  too  tired  to  write. 

We  awake  at  half-past  seven.  After  the  rest,  the  soreness 
of  our  bodies  is  apparent  with  a  vengeance.  Our  loads  had  an 
average  weight  of  70  to  80  pounds,  and  we  carried  them  inces- 
santly from  four  in  the  afternoon  until  one  in  the  morning, 
when  the  inland-ice  was  reached.  So  to-day  every  little  move- 
ment is  painful,  but  the  sky  is  clean  as  newly-fallen  snow,  not  a 
cloud,  beautiful  travelling,  everything  once  more  ready  for  a 
long  day's  journey  homeward,  so  that  we  may  reach  the  ship 
and  Denmark  before  the  winter. 

The  Midgard  Snake  now  lies  far  behind  us,  and  the  height 
we  have  reached  assures  us  that  we  have  passed  all  difficulties. 
218 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

The  glacier  is  an  ideal  one,  even  and  bare  of  snow,  entirely  free 
from  the  system  of  crevasses  which  forced  Peary  and  Astrup  to 
set  their  course  further  in  on  the  inland-ice. 

Temporarily  we  make  a  line  towards  south-west,  following 
the  back  of  the  glacier  along  the  land  which  has  just  turned  up, 
stretching  from  the  head  of  St.  George  Fjord  in  towards  Peter- 
mann  Fjord.  A  wild  and  riven  country  where  deep  ravines 
intersect  mountains  and  little  glaciers,  obstinately  and  defiantly 
contrasting  its  broken  and  disquiet  lines  to  the  dead  monotony 
of  the  inland-ice. 

We  give  it  the  name  of  Nyeboe  Land. 


CAMP  7 
(1,200  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  43  kilometres). 

August  llth-12th. — During  this  time,  when  we  are  often 
in  activity  for  from  twenty  to  twenty-four  hours  at  a  stretch, 
we  have,  in  order  to  keep  our  capacity  for  work  somewhat  near 
to  the  mark,  been  forced  to  introduce  a  slight  meal  in  the  middle 
of  our  day's  march.  It  consists  of  a  cup  of  oat-gruel  with  a 
few  pieces  of  pemmican,  and  is  subtracted  from  our  regular 
morning  and  evening  rations  and  does  us  extraordinarily  well. 

With  a  start  at  9.30  in  the  evening,  we  make  camp  at  10.30 
in  the  morning,  after  having  covered  43  kilometres  of  fine 
going.  It  is  really  a  considerable  distance.  The  sledges  ran 
somewhat  heavily  and  we  men  used  skis  and  snowshoes.  In  the 
eternal  white  surroundings  the  long  walking  tour  seemed  some- 
what monotonous,  although  not  really  tiring  except  for  the  first 
three  or  four  hours.  As  soon  as  one  has  walked  off  the  sore- 
ness of  one's  body,  a  good  and  increasing  speed  is  developed  as 
we  gradually  approach  the  time  when  we  have  our  meal.  Thus 
we  adopt  entirely  the  habits  of  the  seal.  We  have  now  reached 
such  a  height  that  the  rise  of  the  inland-ice  is  no  longer  felt ; 
the  horizon  about  us  is  without  a  change ;  only  casually  do  we 
pass  a  small  ice-clad  mountain-top.  There  is  somewhere  near 
1  metre  of  softer  snow  down  to  the  "ice,"  but  the  surface 
carries  the  dogs  fairly  well  so  that  it  does  not  trouble  them. 

219 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

We  are  excitedly  speculating  as  to  how  long  we  may  keep 
this  good -going. 

The  first  dog  fell  to-day  in  the  middle  of  our  day's  march,  and 
we  drove  it  to  the  camp,  where  immediately  it  was  distributed 
as  food  for  the  other  dogs.  We  do  not  attempt  to  hide  the  fact 
that  the  very  difficult  conditions  of  the  ground  and  of  the  trans- 
port on  Daniel  Bruun  Glacier,  the  Devil's  Cleft,  and  the  Mid- 
gard  Snake,  have  taken  it  out  of  us ;  our  faces  show  that  we 
have  become  very  thin.  But  our  spirits  and  our  will  to  endure 
are  unshaken. 

It  is  a  great  boon  that  we  have  plenty  of  paraffin,  but  of  real 
provisions  we  possess  merely  enough  for  six  days.  It  is  there- 
fore desirable  that  the  weather  should  favour  us  ;  it  will  be  awk- 
ward if  we  have  to  help  the  remaining  dogs  to  any  considerable 
extent  to  eat  those  that  fall  out.  We  are  forced  to  exploit  as 
largely  as  possible  the  advantage  of  the  feed  which  the  dogs  had 
yesterday,  and  for  that  reason  we  must  be  content  with  a  short 
sleep,  and  we  break  up  after  only  five  hours'  rest.  Before  we 
start,  we  put  ice  under  the  sledge-runners,  as  the  temperature 
is  now  sufficiently  low  for  this  purpose.  The  thermometer 
registers  minus  6'5°  (Cent.). 

During  the  march  yesterday  we  were  quite  suddenly  sur- 
prised by  the  visit  of  a  young  gull  which  had  strayed  in  to  us. 
For  a  long  distance  it  fluttered  feebly  to  and  fro  in  front  of 
the  dogs  until  the  wind  seized  it  and  carried  it  further  in  towards 
the  waste  and  death.  A  storm  blew  it  in  here,  and  it  was  unable 
to  find  its  way  back  to  the  sea  again. 


CAMP  8 

(1,100  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  34  kilometres). 

August  12th-13th. — To-day  we  again  put  ice  under  the 
sledge-runners,  after  first  having  put  skis  beneath  them.  The 
barometer  is  falling ;  in  the  clouds  there  is  a  strong  drift  from 
the  south-west,  and  we  have  a  temperature  through  the  day  of 
between  0°  and  2  1°  (Cent.). 
220 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

The  first  20  kilometres  offered  even  and  firm  going,  so  that 
in  six  hours  we  covered  28  kilometres.  Later  on  the  Fohn, 
which  we  had  expected  since  the  morning,  came  over  us ;  then 
the  snow  rapidly  grew  soft,  the  sledges  went  heavily,  and  the 
dogs  sank  through  and  soon  grew  tired  and  unwilling  to  push 
on,  although  three  of  us  walked  in  front.  After  a  day's  journey 
of  34  kilometres  we  were  forced  to  stop. 

The  ski-ing  had  been  excellent  all  through  the  day,  and  the 
surface  of  the  glacier  was  so  even  that  the  sledges  had  difficulty 
in  keeping  up  with  those  of  us  who  wore  skis.  Under  circum- 
stances like  these,  for  one  who  is  used  to  them,  the  skis  are  far 
preferable  to  the  Canadian  snowshoes,  which  merely  carry  one 
without  at  the  same  time  giving  the  gliding  speed  across  the 
snow. 

About  two  o'clock  we  sighted  the  land  inside  Petermann 
Fjord,  and  our  course  is  now  abreast  of  it.  It  is  very  stimu- 
lating to  have  a  landmark,  but  unfortunately  we  shall  scarcely 
be  able  to  pass  80  degrees  to-morrow  as  we  have  been  hoping 
for  the  whole  time,  for  with  this  high  temperature  going  will 
be  bad.  Otherwise  we  have  fine,  clear,  windy  weather  with 
summer  warmth  in  the  tent. 

The  gathering  clouds  from  the  south-west  carried  out  their 
threat.  Just  as  we  had  taken  down  our  tent  in  order  to  con- 
tinue the  journey,  a  sudden  change  in  the  weather  occurred, 
with  low  clouds  drifting  with  great  velocity,  so  that,  fearing  the 
approach  of  a  snowstorm,  we  pitched  our  tent  once  more  and 
awaited  developments.  It  turned  showery,  alternating  between 
snow  and  drizzle,  and  we  resigned  ourselves  to  it,  deciding  to 
take  advantage  of  the  storm  for  a  rest — the  first  since  the  ascent 
from  the  river  in  St.  George  Fjord. 

Our  involuntary  stay  unfortunately  leads  to  the  slaughter  of 
two  dogs,  partly  as  food  for  ourselves,  partly  for  the  other  dogs. 
It  is  midnight,  and  I  am  writing  these  lines  whilst  the  smell 
from  the  pot  affects  me  not  at  all  disagreeably.  Never  before 
during  my  fifteen  years  of  travel  have  I  been  forced  to  eat  my 
dogs,  wherefore  I  have  always  with  discomfort,  and  not  entirely 
without  criticism,  looked  upon  the  expeditions  which  wore  out 

221 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

their  dogs  to  the  last  rag,  later  on  to  eat  them.  It  appeared  to 
me  not  only  unsesthetic  and  unappetizing,  but  also  akin  to 
cannibalism.  It  seems  entirely  different  now  when  we  our- 
selves have  to  save  our  lives  with  dog-flesh  !  The  unsesthetic  and 
unappetizing  aspect  no  longer  exists. 

The  snowstorm  whistles  round  the  canvas  and,  with  our 
scanty  provisions,  we  feel  infinitely  far  away  from  humanity. 
We  are  hungry,  and  have  been  hungry  for  the  last  month.  So 
we  are  merely  longing  for  the  meat  to  be  cooked  so  that  our 
hunger  may  be  assuaged.  The  flesh  looks  light  and  delicious 
though  very  thin  and  sinewy ;  but  as  the  steam  arises  from  the 
pot  and  fills  the  tent  we  imagine  that  we  are  going  to  eat  mutton 
— the  smell  is  similar.  And  the  prospect  of  every  man  being 
satiated,  instead  of  merely  "  sticking  it "  on  a  sixth  of  a  ration 
of  pemmican  gruel,  highly  invigorates  and  pacifies  us.  What 
the  Devil !  The  dog  is  merely  a  domestic  animal,  and  all  the 
world  over  one  eats  one's  domestic  animals ! 

We  are  all  fighting  for  life  here  in  this  desert ;  we  toil 
regardlessly  in  order  to  reach  the  better  hunting-grounds,  and 
as  we  and  not  the  dogs  possess  the  right  of  the  stronger,  it  is  we 
who  eat  the  dogs.  In  a  position  like  ours  there  is  no  room  for 
sentimentality.  Soon  or  late  they  would  have  to  die  by  our 
hand.  On  this  expedition  where  they  have  served  us  so  faith- 
fully in  life,  let  them  then  also  serve  us  and  their  comrades  after 
death. 

Maybe  someone  will  turn  up  his  nose  at  this  argument. 
But  through  half  a  year  we  have  now  got  accustomed  to  accept- 
ing our  food  with  gratitude,  in  whatever  form  we  might  receive 
it ;  wherefore,  perhaps  to  a  greater  extent  than  man  generally, 
we  have  had  an  opportunity  of  revising  our  estimation  of  what 
a  formidable  factor  an  empty  stomach  is  :  it  does  not  acknow- 
ledge many  considerations. 

The  meat  is  cooked  now,  and  maybe  the  meal  is  a  plebeian 
one,  but  no  appetite  in  the  world  is  more  royal  than  ours  ! 


222 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

CAMP  9 

(765  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  44  kilometres). 

Yesterday  we  at  last  got  clear  fine  weather  with  a  mild 
breeze  from  the  south-east  and  only  minus  19°  (Cent.).  One 
cannot  recognize  the  glacier  at  all  in  this  summer  temperature. 
During  the  first  Thule  Expedition  we  found  further  in  on  the 
inland-ice,  at  the  same  time  of  year,  a  temperature  of  between 
minus  20°  and  minus  5°  (Cent.).  This  heat,  which  in  various 
ways  is  very  acceptable  to  us,  is  of  course  due  to  the  fact  that 
we  are  so  near  to  the  coastland.  In  strong  cold  our  lean  dogs 
would  surely  have  frozen  to  death  in  their  thin  summer  coats. 

With  a  start  at  7.30  in  the  afternoon  we  succeeded  in 
making  44  kilometres  by  a  fair  and  even  pace  until  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  Unfortunately  we  have  had  to  give  up  our 
small  midday  meals  out  of  economic  considerations ;  we  can  no 
longer  afford  them.     We  content  ourselves  with  a  cup  of  tea. 

The  glacier  was  firm  like  the  floor  of  a  room,  the  sledges 
slipped  along  easily  and  without  any  friction  worth  mentioning, 
and  our  eleven  dogs  with  the  two  sledges  occasionally  went  at  a 
pace  which  made  it  difficult  for  us  to  keep  up  with  them.  Off 
the  inland  Nunatak  of  Petermann  Fjord  we  passed  a  somewhat 
complex  system  of  great  crevasses  which  were  connected  by 
wide  bridges  so  that  they  did  not  represent  much  difficulty  ;  we 
merely  had  to  alter  our  course  slightly  in  order  to  get  outside. 
For  the  present  our  tent  is  open  with  a  wide  view  to  the 
Nunatak  which  on  the  eastern  side  merges  evenly  into  the 
glacier,  but  outwardly  forms  a  high  and  split-up  foreland 
towards  the  fjord,  which  we  see  in  a  glorious  bird's-eye  view 
with  blueing  cliffs  far  out  in  the  western  horizon. 

CAMP  10 
(1,010  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  41  kilometres). 

August  15th. — We  had  to  clench  our  teeth  in  order  to  cover 
our  40  kilometres  to-day.  A  rough  south-wester  blew  right 
against  us,  and  the  snow  consisted  of  fine  little  needles  which 

223 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

hurt  us  right  through  the  kamiks,  breaking  under  our  weight. 
A  wearisome  walk !  In  addition,  the  journey  was  at  an  even 
upward  incline,  and  as  soon  as  we  encountered  the  slightest 
rise  we  felt  in  our  knees  that  we  were  exhausted. 

As  the  paws  of  the  dogs  began  to  bleed,  we  had  to  sacrifice 
all  our  gloves,  wrapping  them  round  their  feet  as  kamiks.  That 
was  a  help. 

At  a  height  of  900  metres  above  the  sea-level  we  came  to  a 
lot  of  great  and  small  lakes,  the  largest  of  which  had  still  open 
water,  rippling  deep  blue  and  beautiful  in  the  white  surround- 
ings. It  seemed  peculiar  here  in  the  midst  of  the  glacier  to  see 
these  basins  of  living  water,  of  seas  which  could  be  up  to  300 
metres  long  and  100  metres  broad.  We  also  passed  some 
smaller  crevasses  and  little  frozen  rivers. 

Due  west,  we  had  Washington  Land  in  sight  all  day,  with 
its  high  steep  mountains  standing  like  a  wall  against  the  inland- 
ice.  Beautiful  white  glacier  tongues  intersected  and  slit  the 
reddish-brown  and  yellowish  cliffs  like  mighty  waterfalls. 
Through  dips  in  the  land  we  could  occasionally  discern  the 
pointed  alps  of  Grinnell  Land  like  fine,  violet  banks  of  clouds — 
a  view  which  encouraged  us  on  the  march,  and  broke  agreeably 
the  monotonous  plane  which  everywhere  surrounded  us. 

This  voyage  across  the  inland-ice,  which  has  loomed  threaten- 
ingly in  the  horizon  during  the  last  few  months,  now  appears 
in  the  light  of  a  pleasant  surprise,  a  final  spurt,  a  reward  for  all 
our  adversities. 

CAMP  11 

(1,100  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  35  kilometres). 

August  16th. — Immediately  after  the  beautiful  journey  of 
yesterday  a  south-wester  came  up  with  thick  weather,  blowing 
us  quickly  to  sleep.  Towards  evening  it  dropped  somewhat, 
and  we  tried  to  set  off;  but  after  making  14  kilometres  we  had 
to  call  a  temporary  halt  because  of  the  fog  and  snow,  and  we 
took  the  opportunity  to  kill  a  dog  which  was  too  exhausted  to 
travel  any  further.  In  the  course  of  the  night  we  had  a  tem- 
perature of  minus  75°  (Cent.),  and  the  result  of  this  cooling 
224 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

was  that  the  sky  once  more  cleared  up,  so  that  we  could  con- 
tinue immediately  after  taking  a  noon  observation  which 
showed  us  that  we  were  on  N.  Lat.  75°  45'.  After  20  kilo- 
metres' march  we  had  again  to  stop  because  of  thick  weather 
and  snow,  so  we  definitely  made  camp  for  the  day. 

Over  a  Pipe  of  Tobacco. 

August  17th. — It  blew  bravely  last  night,  it  beat  and 
whipped  across  our  thin  canvas  tent,  which  has  now  the  appear- 
ance of  a  veteran ;  and  as  we  have  no  sleeping-bags  and  our 
clothes  are  wet  with  the  perspiration  of  the  long  marches,  our 
sleep  was  interrupted  by  little  shudders  of  cold  and  frequent 
stamping  of  the  feet. 

In  the  middle  of  the  night,  after  only  two  hours'  sleep,  I 
light  my  pipe  to  think  seriously  about  the  position.  Apart 
from  our  dogs,  which  are  no  longer  in  the  best  condition,  we 
have  provisions  merely  for  two  or  three  days.  The  only  thing 
we  possess  in  abundance  is  paraffin ;  therefore  another  week 
will  be  possible  on  boiled  dog  meat — if  one  can  really  call  that 
thin  bony  food  by  the  name  meat.  A  more  serious  thing  is 
that,  in  a  couple  of  days,  we  ourselves  must  pull  the  sledges 
when  the  dogs  can  carry  on  no  longer  and  are  reduced  to  being 
food  for  man.  We  yet  possess  nine,  but  their  number  speedily 
decreases.  Also  other  circumstances  contribute  to  the  desir- 
ability of  reaching  land  quickly.  Harrigan  carries  a  swollen 
hand  in  a  sling  ;  Koch  has  just  got  over  an  awful  gumboil  which 
closed  entirely  one  of  his  eyes,  and  he  has  now  acquired  a 
choicely  vicious  boil  under  the  nail  of  the  big  toe.  Wulff  is 
walking,  to  speak  plainly,  with  a  boil  on  his  behind,  which  I  am 
daily  doctoring,  and  all  these  little  painful  incidents,  in  addition 
to  the  daily  semi-starvation  which  gradually  develops  into  a 
downright  feeling  of  hunger,  necessitate  that  we  should  as 
quickly  as  possible  find  land  and  hunting.  We  had  hoped  to 
be  able  to  reach  the  land  behind  Marshall  Bay,  but  it  now  seems 
improbable  that  we  can  cover  the  remaining  200  kilometres. 
I  therefore  decide,  after  this  night's  communion  with  myself, 
to  try  a  descent  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape  Agassiz.  From 
P  225 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

there  it  is  only  250  kilometres  to  Etah,  the  country  of  hares  and 
reindeer. 

As  a  light  in  the  distance  shines  the  possibility  of  meeting 
my  ship,  the  Cape  York,  at  Etah  in  the  beginning  of  Septem- 
ber, and  the  thought  of  getting  home  to  Denmark  this  autumn 
undeniably  stiffens  our  energy  considerably. 

CAMP   12 

(1,130  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  21  kilometres). 

August  18th-19th. — At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  set 
off,  but  it  was  soon  apparent  that  it  would  not  be  a  good  day. 
With  the  wind  half  a  point  abeam  we  walked  heavily  through  a 
very  strong  drift  of  south-south-west.  Now  and  then  the  gusts 
would  be  so  violent  that  we  tottered  on  our  skis,  but  on  we  must 
go,  the  knife  at  our  throats  !  I  was  on  the  point  of  being  over- 
whelmed by  tiredness  a  few  times  during  the  fight  against  the 
rough  snow-showers,  but  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  swallow 
the  pain  and  forge  ahead.  With  our  decreasing  provisions  this 
was  an  uncanny  race.  Stubbornly  we  toiled  ahead  for  five 
hours  until  one  o'clock ;  then  suddenly  the  drift  increased  to  a 
storm  which  swathed  us  all  in  white  layers  of  snow.  We 
stopped  on  the  spot,  as  all  resistance  was  in  vain. 

To  pitch  the  tent  in  weather  like  this  proved  both  a  fight  and 
an  art,  but  we  did  succeed.  It  was  impossible  to  clear  anything 
of  snow,  and  all  baggage  was  quickly  thrown  into  the  tent  in  its 
snow-covered  state,  whereafter  we  ourselves  sat  down  in  a  circle 
like  perching  hens  and  let  the  storm  blow.  Such  is  the  situa- 
tion whilst  I  am  writing  this.  The  Fohn  has  thawed  the  snow 
in  our  clothes  and  we  are  wet  through.  The  fine  "  snow-sand  " 
of  the  glacier  drifts  in  through  the  seams  of  the  tent  and  covers 
us ;  but  we  try  to  take  it  all  in  good  spirits,  singing  American 
football  songs  which  we  remember  from  McMillan's  gramo- 
phone whilst  we  cook  a  panful  of  pemmican  gruel. 

A  few  hours  later  the  violent  showers,  which  threaten  to 
rob  us  entirely  of  our  old  tent,  cease,  and  the  wind  becomes  a 
steady  and  persistent  gale.     Having  eaten  the  gruel,  we  lie 
down  to  sleep,  leaving  the  storm  to  its  own  moods. 
226 


e 
o 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

Eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  same  weather,  the  same 
wind.     To  sleep  again. 

We  turn  out  again,  but  find  the  same  weather  and  the  same 
wind.  Despite  our  hurry,  then,  we  are  weather-bound  for 
another  day ;  and  whilst  previously  we  have  been  starving  on 
days  when  we  did  not  travel,  we  dare  not  do  this  again,  as  in 
our  present  condition  it  would  weaken  us  too  much.  So  we 
cook  our  cup  of  coffee,  the  last  but  one,  and  a  cup  of  thin  pem- 
mican  gruel.  Our  entire  provisions  now  consist  of  a  pound  of 
pemmican  for  each  man,  and  the  distance  to  land  must  be  at 
least  100  kilometres.  But  the  barometer  is  rising,  and  we  pin 
our  faith  on  a  speedy  change  in  the  weather. 
Twelve  o'clock  noon. 

The  same  weather,  the  same  wind,  but  less  violent,  and  the 
snowdrift  is  decreasing.  We  have  had  to  kill  two  dogs  for  a 
meal  for  ourselves  and  the  seven  animals  we  have  yet  left.  Once 
more  we  are  squatting  on  our  heels  in  a  ring  in  the  tent, 
gathered  about  the  warming  Primus,  which  will  soon  make  the 
pan  boil. 

Three  o'clock. 

The  barometer,  which  had  risen  somewhat,  falls  again,  and 
the  thickness  about  us  prevents  us  from  setting  a  course  for  the 
time  being. 

One  o'clock,  morning. 

August  19th. — Same  weather,  same  wind,  and  despite  all 
impatience  to  get  away  whilst  we  have  yet  a  couple  of  dogs  left, 
we  are  forced  to  hibernate  like  bears  as  long  as  the  storm  lasts, 
sleeping  as  much  as  possible.  Even  if  we  could  keep  a  fair 
course  by  the  aid  of  the  wind,  we  dare  not  set  out  in  the  thick 
snow,  as  we  cannot  be  far  from  the  edge  of  Humboldt's  Glacier. 
Unfortunately  we  possess  neither  the  bear's  capacity  for  sleep  in 
our  cool  den,  nor  its  capacity  for  doing  entirely  without  food ; 
so  we  often  wake  up  from  dreams  which  maliciously  emphasize 
our  situation.  Thus  I  now  woke  up  after  the  following  dream  : 
I  am  at  my  father's  vicarage  at  Lynge,  standing  with  my 
mother  in  the  larder,  where  is  to  be  found  a  drawer  which  is 
always  full  of  cakes.     Mother  has  just  finished  baking  and  put 

227 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

two  lovely  warm  Christmas  cakes  into  the  drawer,  sweetly 
fragrant  with  delicious  ingredients,  bristling  with  raisins  and 
citron.  She  cuts  a  couple  of  thick  slices  for  me,  saying  in  her 
gentle  voice  :  "There  you  are,  my  boy;  eat  as  much  as  you 
like !"  As  I  raise  the  delicious  cake  to  my  mouth,  I  wake  up 
to  all  our  misery. 

My  comrades  are  lying  asleep,  the  wind  is  whipping  the 
drifting  snow  around  our  tent,  and  an  exhausted  dog  is  lying 
out  in  the  drifts,  whimpering  pitifully. 

Four  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

There  is  hardly  any  wind  now,  but  the  snow  is  falling  more 
heavily  and  our  little  camp  is  quite  wrapped  up  in  a  white 
thickness.  Again  I  awake  from  a  mocking  dream,  and  as  com- 
pensation we  make  coffee  from  the  old  grounds  and  distribute 
half  a  rye  biscuit  to  each  man.  The  coffee  pours  like  a  warm 
wave  through  our  bodies,  and  with  pipes  between  our  lips  we 
meet  the  day  in  good  spirits.  It  will  all  come  right  in  the  end  ! 
It  was  from  our  own  free  choice  that  we  left  the  comforts  of 
home ;  but  how  keenly  we  shall  appreciate  it  all  when  once  we 
return ! 

Half -past  six  o'clock. 

Half  an  hour  ago  a  gleam  of  sun  penetrated  the  canvas. 
We  immediately  arose  from  the  different  postures  in  which  we 
had  attempted  to  rest,  and  gave  vent  to  our  jubilation.  The 
teapot  was  put  on,  and  a  sixth  of  a  ration,  exactly  a  mouthful 
of  pemmican  for  each,  was  distributed  together  with  one  of  the 
small  biscuits.  The  horizon  is  yet  hazy,  but  above  our  heads 
the  blue  sky  is  breaking  through,  and  we  may  hope  for  travel- 
ling weather  towards  noon.  There  is  once  more  a  fresh  note  in 
our  voices,  and  bright  prospects  for  the  coming  day. 

CAMP  13 
(800  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  35  kilometres). 

August  19th. — Thanks  to  the  excellent  going,  we  are  now 
35  kilometres  away  from  our  bad  weather  camp.  The  snow  was 
so  firm  after  the  storm  that  we  required  neither  skis  nor  snow- 
228 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

shoes.  We  walked  from  ten  in  the  morning  until  half-past 
eight  at  night.  One  of  the  sledges  was  pulled  by  three  dogs 
and  the  other  one  by  four,  and  the  persevering  animals  managed 
very  well  during  the  day. 

When  we  began  to  move  after  the  days  of  rest  occasioned 
by  the  snowstorm  we  felt  very  weak  in  the  knees,  but  we 
quickly  beat  the  weakness  down,  putting  our  best  leg  foremost, 
especially  as  the  clouds  still  looked  threatening  and  a  fresh 
storm  might  interrupt  our  journey  at  any  moment.  Fortu- 
nately it  proved  to  be  merely  a  threat.  With  great  velocity 
the  clouds  raced  above  our  heads  before  a  south-west  gale  ;  later 
in  the  day  their  speed  decreased  and  the  sky  assumed  a  more 
quiet  aspect. 

The  last  15  kilometres  of  the  journey  we  were  much  ham- 
pered by  crevasses,  presumably  local  ones,  as  they  were  all 
situated  in  the  vicinity  of  an  elevation  where  the  ice  appeared  to 
have  cracked  through  its  own  tension.  They  were  of  an 
unusually  deceitful  kind,  merging  entirely  into  the  surface  of 
the  glacier  and  in  most  places  covered  by  thin  bridges,  so  that 
it  was  difficult  to  notice  them  in  the  hazy  atmosphere.  Once 
Wulff  was  on  the  point  of  falling  through,  but  fortunately  he 
hung  by  the  arms,  so  that  I  was  able  to  get  hold  of  him  and 
pull  him  up.  The  crevasse  was  narrow  at  the  top,  but  widened 
out  downward  into  a  dark,  bottomless  abyss.  After  this 
dreadful  experience  we  tied  ropes  round  our  waists  and  con- 
tinued our  march  without  further  obstacles. 

We  have  had  to  kill  another  dog. 

At  the  beginning  of  our  day's  journey  we  sighted  land  due 
north-west — probably  Cape  Forbes  and  its  westward  continua- 
tion. About  half -past  three  more  land  became  visible,  and  we 
thought  we  recognized  Cape  Webster.  From  our  point  the 
land  inward  looked  like  a  multitude  of  little  seas  in  a  frozen 
ocean. 

August  20th. — It  was  one  o'clock  when  we  went  to  rest, 
and  already  by  seven  o'clock  we  had  to  set  to,  cooking  our  last 
cup  of  coffee  and  the  last  but  one  portion  of  pemmican  gruel. 
A  person  who  has  not  been  starving  is  unable  to  understand 

229 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

how  wonderful  food,  real  food,  tastes  under  such  circumstances. 
The  small  dry  biscuits  which  for  the  last  few  days  we  have  used 
as  sugar  for  coffee  and  tea  possess  an  aroma  and  a  savour  which 
one  does  not  notice  at  all  when  one  has  access  to  plenty ;  and 
the  oaten  porridge,  which  during  our  wintering  we  looked  at 
with  contempt,  affects  us  like  caresses ;  we  are  agreed  that  we 
would  all  be  happy  for  life  if  we  could  only  have  sufficient 
Avena  oats. 

The  weather  is  continually  disturbed,  but  as  the  sun  breaks 
through  at  eleven  o'clock  we  set  off.  The  entire  journey  of 
the  day  goes  across  slippery  ice  covered  by  a  layer  of  new  snow  ; 
we  often  fall  and  the  dogs,  which  continually  walk  in  kamiks, 
find  it  difficult  to  get  a  foothold.  We  pass  some  small  crevasses 
and  a  number  of  dried-up  sea-basins  and  river-courses.  The 
first  great  river-course  is  passed  16  kilometres  from  our  previous 
camp  at  a  height  of  750  metres.  The  inland-ice  during  our 
journey  to-day  appears  to  have  been  subjected  to  a  severe  pro- 
cess of  melting  ;  the  surface  consists  entirely  of  tiny,  fine  grains 
which  inflict  considerable  pain  on  the  dogs.  Our  route  lies 
across  an  even  terrain  faintly  sloping  towards  Peabody  Bay, 
where  all  rivers  find  their  outlets. 

CAMP  14 
(600  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  30  kilometres). 

The  sky  threatens  us  constantly  with  Fohn  clouds.  The 
minimum  temperature  of  the  night  was  minus  5°  (Cent.),  whilst 
during  the  forenoon  it  rises  to  1°  (Cent.).  A  ring  forms  round 
the  sun,  gleaming  viciously  with  parhelions.  It  looks  beautiful, 
but  our  thoughts  centre  round  the  evil  meteorological  promises 
which  it  gives. 

To-day  we  still  drove  two  sledges,  each  pulled  by  three  dogs. 
Although  we  had  to  assist,  the  dogs  were  yet  an  invaluable  help. 
We  made  good  speed  all  during  the  journey,  and  by  seven 
o'clock  we  were  able  to  camp  with  a  view  of  Peabody  Bay, 
mostly  ice  with  occasional  holes  of  open  water.  We  are 
probably  25  kilometres  from  the  edge  of  the  glacier,  and  Wash- 
ington Land  has  been  visible  almost  through  the  entire  day. 
230 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

Again  a  dog  has  to  be  killed. 

It  was  the  best  dog  we  had  yet  tasted,  despite  which  I  was 
seized  during  the  meal  by  a  sudden  feeling  of  discomfort,  so 
strong  that,  notwithstanding  my  hunger,  it  was  impossible  for 
me  to  eat  any  more.  According  to  our  calculations  we  should 
now  be  some  30  kilometres  away  from  the  land  round  Cape 
Agassiz — "  the  great  land  without  mountains,"  as  the  Eskimos 
call  it — and  here  we  hope  our  bad  experience  will  have  an  end. 
Just  think  of  tallow  and  fragrant  reindeer  meat,  and  probably 
a  delicious  autumn  hare  ! 

CAMP  15 
(600  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  12  kilometres). 

August  21st. — The  day  begins  with  the  cooking  of  the  last 
portion  of  pemmican  gruel,  and  a  thin  one  at  that,  for  there 
must  be  sufficient  to  go  round.  But  however  thin  it  may  be, 
it  lies  like  cotton-wool  round  our  vitals,  refreshing  us  with  its 
substantial  taste.  At  the  same  time  the  last  biscuits  are  dis- 
tributed, four  to  each  man.  If  only  the  weather  will  last 
things  do  not  seem  too  black,  for  we  have  five  dogs,  which  con- 
stitute sufficient  provisions  if  unforeseen  obstacles  do  not  delay 
our  descent  to  land.  The  weather  does  not  promise  well ;  we 
have  a  positive  temperature  of  3°,  which  is  never  a  good  sign 
on  the  inland-ice ;  furthermore,  the  clouds  are  coming  up  with 
the  velocity  of  a  storm  from  the  south-west.  We  leave  behind 
us  everything  that  is  unnecessary,  both  skis  and  snowshoes,  and 
hasten  forward. 

The  glacier  is  firm  and  bare  of  snow  ;  it  consists  of  little  sharp 
needles  which  hurt  us  and  the  dogs,  and  as  the  animals  wear 
out  their  kamiks  we  tie  up  their  paws  in  bits  of  an  old  towel. 


LAND    AHEAD 

At  twenty  minutes  past  one  the  great  moment  of  the  day 
and  of  the  journey  arrives  :  Land  ahead  !  Involuntarily  we  all 
hail  the  saving  coast  with  loud  cries  of  joy.  The  dreadful  ten- 
sion of  the  journey  seems  at  an  end.     The  expedition  is  once 

231 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

more  on  the  safe  side,  and  we  can  see  a  happy  finish  to  the  death 
march  of  the  last  few  days. 

What  matters  it  that  our  joy  is  very  quickly  interrupted  by 
bad  visibility  and  pouring  rain?  We  have  seen  the  land  and 
we  know  that  we  have  the  strength  to  reach  it !  At  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  we  pitch  our  tent  and  again  kill  a  dog.  It  all 
seems  to  us  merely  a  small  trial  for  the  exercise  of  our  patience  ; 
there  is  land  ahead  where  men  live — the  blessed  land  of 
reindeer ! 

Four  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

The  violent  rush  of  a  river  suddenly  bursts  through  the  ice- 
cover  right  by  the  side  of  our  tent,  frothing  and  roaring  to  a 
breadth  of  30  metres.  We  rush  out  in  the  belief  that  we  our- 
selves will  be  swept  away,  but  fortunately  it  is  only  a  temporary 
outbreak,  which  quickly  subsides. 

It  has  been  raining  hard  all  night,  but  now  it  has  ceased. 
We  will  attempt  to  continue. 

CAMP  16 

(620  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  20  kilometres). 

August  22nd. — The  rain  and  the  continuous  mild  weather 
seem  to  threaten  us  with  calamity.  In  all  dips  of  the  ground 
great  and  deep  rivers  break  out,  causing  us  the  greatest  diffi- 
culties. These  rapid,  broad  glacier  torrents  are  surely  the 
greatest  danger  with  which  a  glacier  traveller  can  meet ;  for  if 
he  slips  during  the  crossing,  or  loses  his  foothold  when  he  jumps, 
he  will  without  fail  be  carried  along  the  shiny  bottom  and  swept 
to  perdition  as  the  river  pours  out  into  the  ocean  itself. 

There  were  three  great  courses  which  caused  us  especial  diffi- 
culty, as  in  several  places  the  run  divided  into  as  many  as  eight 
rivers.  Wherever  practicable  we  made  a  bridge  of  the  sledges, 
experiencing  during  these  crossings  some  of  our  most  exciting 
moments,  particularly  when  the  collections  had  to  be  brought 
across.  Often  these  had  to  be  thrown  with  a  sure  aim  from  one 
side  of  the  river  to  the  other,  and  seized  on  the  other  side  with 
the  same  accuracy.  A  slight  twist  of  the  hand,  a  wrong  step  of 
232 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

the  foot,  and  the  result  of  all  our  five  months'  toil  would  have 
been  irredeemably  lost.  After  twelve  severe  hours,  during 
which  we  zigzagged  and  often  made  great  detours,  we  found 
ourselves  20  kilometres  away  from  our  last  camp,  so  that  we 
really  ought  to  have  been  down  on  land  if  only  through  the  day 
we  had  been  able  to  keep  a  straight  course.  On  a  dry  elevation 
we  rested,  intending  to  continue  about  an  hour  later  ;  but  unfor- 
tunately we  found  that  Dr.  Wulff  could  not  go  further  on  this 
day.  All  through  the  day  he  had  felt  exhausted  and  looked  ill, 
but  I  had  hoped  that  a  few  hours  of  rest  and  a  little  dog  meat 
would  before  long  enable  him  to  continue ;  for  we  had  only 
three  lean  dogs  left,  and  there  was  no  knowing  what  obstacles 
the  rivers  or  the  descent  to  land  might  confront  us  with.  We 
faced  the  situation  openly  and  without  attempt  at  camouflage. 
When  we  struggled  with  the  sledges  we  felt  dizzy  and  weak  in 
the  knees,  and  all  sudden  exertion  made  the  blood  retreat  from 
the  brain. 

The  fog  has  once  more  settled  on  the  land  which  we  must 
cross,  and  for  the  moment  we  do  not  know  where  we  are.  All 
through  the  day  we  have  waded  through  water,  and  our  feet 
are  cold  and  wet.  Numerous  little  pools  have  formed  on  the 
surface  of  the  glacier,  and  the  bottom  of  these  consists  of  sharp, 
painful  grains  of  firn.  It  is  a  comfort  that  we  now  discover 
everywhere  quantities  of  "land-dust."  A  small  sea-king 
swims  merrily  on  a  frothing  river  from  the  inland-ice  and  seems 
quite  pleased  with  the  slide  it  has  found  towards  the  sea.  Fur- 
ther, we  have  seen  two  ivory  gulls.  Once  more  we  must  kill  a 
dog  and,  without  pitching  our  tent,  as  it  is  calm,  mild  weather, 
we  eat  it  with  a  good  appetite. 

Eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

To  ease  the  load,  we  threw  away  a  few  days  ago  all  our 
ground-skins,  and  now,  so  that  we  shall  not  lie  on  the  bare 
glacier,  we  spread  out  the  tent  and  lie  down  on  it.  Through 
the  night  a  heavy  fog  has  hidden  all  surroundings  from  us.  It 
still  hangs  about,  and  although  we  are  unable  to  find  our  bear- 
ings we  must  continue.  A  great  frothing  river  is  visible  ahead 
of  us  and,  to  begin  with,  we  make  for  that. 

233 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

2.30  afternoon. 

The  glacier  river,  which  proved  to  be  a  frothing  ice-stream 
of  60  metres  breadth,  nearly  destroys  all  our  hopes ;  for  at  the 
point  where  we  struck  it  it  was  so  deep  that  there  was  no  pos- 
sibility of  fording  it.  After  a  long  reconnoitring  I  succeeded  in 
finding  a  place  where  the  water  reached  us  merely  to  the  hips, 
and  as  the  current  seemed  to  be  less  violent  here  we  made  the 
attempt.  We  succeeded,  and  in  the  course  of  a  couple  of  hours 
our  instruments   and   diaries    were   safely  deposited    on   the 

opposite  shore. 

This  bath,  with  its  accompanying  strain  and  excitement, 
told  on  us  so  much  that  once  more  we  had  to  prepare  a  meal,  so 
we  killed  our  third  dog.  The  one  which  we  killed  yesterday 
provided  merely  one  poor  meal  for  the  six  men  and  the  three 
dogs.  The  fog  which  has  all  day  been  lying  clammy  and  close 
around  us  now  seems  to  lift.  The  sun  is  on  the  point  of  break- 
ing through,  and  a  blissful  warmth  begins  to  stream  through  our 
bodies,  which  are  icy-cold  under  the  wet  clothes.  We  now 
attempt  to  set  a  course  straight  on  land  towards  the  south-west. 


CAMP  17 
(525  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  15  kilometres). 

After  a  day's  journey  of  thirteen  hours  we  had  to  make  a 
halt  by  a  great  river,  which  we  have  not  had  the  strength  to 
cross  to-day.  Comparatively  soon  after  we  broke  up  from  the 
place  where  we  took  our  meal  yesterday,  we  sighted  land.  Our 
course  is  straight  and  the  remaining  distance  must  be  scarcely 
20  kilometres.  But  a  mighty  net  of  rivers  so  far  separates  us 
from  it.  About  eight  o'clock  yesterday  we  had  to  wade  across 
a  deep  river  which  was  some  40  metres  broad,  and  where  the 
water  reached  us  to  the  waist.  The  cold  water  told  chiefly  on 
the  muscles  of  our  knees.  We  have  to  pull  the  sledges  our- 
selves now.  In  the  evening  another  dog  is  killed,  as  we  prefer 
to  transport  its  flesh  on  the  sledge  ;  we  have  now  only  one  left. 


234 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

CAMP  18 
(430  metres  above  sea-level.     Distance,  about  10  kilometres). 

August  23rd. — The  new  river  which  yesterday  completely 
unnerved  us  was  crossed  with  surprising  ease.  Only  the  fog 
seems  disinclined  to  leave  us,  but  we  hope  that  our  course  is  the 
right  one.  A  number  of  smaller  rivers  are  passed  in  alternate 
drizzle  and  sleet. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  in  the  midst  of  fog  and 
hopelessness,  we  see  the  first  sign  of  life  from  land — a  small  fly 
buzzes  past  us  right  up  on  the  ice !  It  affects  us  like  the  olive- 
branch  of  Noah's  Ark,  and  this  enlivening  experience  is  a  good 
pace-maker. 

We  follow  an  incline  leading  towards  a  dark  bank  of  fog, 
which  has  the  appearance  of  land.  We  advance  quickly  until 
we  reach  a  large,  very  beautiful  glacier  lake,  with  an  affluent 
river  forming  a  deep  canyon  in  the  glacier.  The  sea  has  won- 
derful colours — green  along  the  shore  and  dark  blue  in  the 
middle ;  along  the  shore  lie  big  ice-blocks,  tall  as  a  man.  The 
crossing  of  this  river  required  all  our  strength.  Furthermore, 
the  fog  grew  so  heavy  that  we  dared  not  continue  our  course. 
The  snow  fell  closely  and  we  had  to  seek  the  shelter  of  our  tent. 
Our  wet  clothes  feel  like  cold  compressions  round  our  limbs,  but 
fortunately  we  are  so  tired  that  we  quickly  go  to  sleep. 

The  glacier  has  during  the  whole  of  our  day's  journey  been 
very  porous,  with  large  pointed  ice  crystals  and  deep  round 
Cryokonite  holes. 

THE   LAST  DAY   ON   THE   INLAND-ICE 

August  2ith. — Twelve  o'clock  noon. 

During  part  of  the  night  I  was  awake,  as  I  had  to  keep  an 
eye  on  the  weather ;  for  as  soon  as  it  clears  the  least  bit  we  must 
continue  in  order  to  get  down  to  land  and  safety. 

Wulff's  increasing  exhaustion  is  a  source  of  great  anxiety  to 
us ;  when,  after  a  rest,  we  have  been  walking  for  three  hours, 
he  lies  down  and  declares  that  he  can  go  no  further.     We  then 

235 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

stop,  make  him  a  strong  cup  of  tea,  and  refreshed  by  this  once 
more  he  quickly  continues  in  good  spirits.  But  he  is  as  thin  as  a 
skeleton  and  the  expression  in  his  eyes  becomes  weaker  and 
weaker.  As  long  as  we  had  the  small  rations  of  pemmican  and 
Avena  oats  he  kept  up  surprisingly  well  and  nearly  always  was 
to  be  found  with  the  foremost.  But  apparently  he  cannot 
digest  the  dog-flesh,  and  he  gives  away  the  better  part  of  his 
ration  in  spite  of  our  protestations.  The  rest  of  us  can  manage 
for  a  few  days  more.  If  only  the  visibility  were  better — we  are 
really  quite  close  to  land  ! 

After  short,  refreshing  sleeps  I  start  up  to  look  at  the 
weather — I  have  merely  to  put  my  eye  to  the  canvas,  which  is 
full  of  holes — but  every  time  I  meet  only  the  same  heavy  fog 
and  sleet ;  only  the  uncanny  rush  of  rivers  can  be  heard  around  us. 

At  length  weariness  overcomes  my  watchfulness,  and  I  sink 
into  a  good  sound  sleep,  during  which  my  dreams,  as  is  usual  at 
this  time,  carry  me  away  from  the  seriousness  of  the  moment 
and  towards  the  longings  which  alone  prevent  me  from  falling 
into  complete  exhaustion.  When  I  wake  up  it  is  beautiful 
weather  ;  the  fog  has  lifted  and  the  sky  seems  to  be  clearing  up. 
I  arouse  my  comrades  and  make  a  cup  of  tea.  Then  at  half- 
past  nine  in  the  morning  we  start.  We  speed  ahead  as  well  as 
we  can  with  our  sledges  and  our  goods,  and  after  a  good  hour's 
walk  we  sight  the  land  towards  which  we  are  rushing.  •  We 
keep  our  constant  course  straight  on  to  it ;  many  details  are  now 
visible  and  the  distance  cannot  be  great — perhaps  merely  a  good 
six  miles.  The  distance  is  nothing,  but  the  great  rivers  may 
prove  severe  obstacles  in  our  way.  It  may  take  us  several  days 
yet  in  the  worst  case,  but  only  a  few  hours  if  we  are  in  luck  and 
do  not  meet  with  difficulties  when  we  descend. 

Our  excitement  is  intense.  Every  hill  of  the  glacier  which 
we  ascend  gives  us  a  sure  view  of  the  land ;  then  the  fog  once 
more  rolls  up  from  the  horizon  in  the  west,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  land  we  are  steering  towards  has  disappeared  in  grey  banks 
of  fog. 

Once  more  we  must  stop  and  sit  inactive  on  our  sledge, 
hungry  as  wolves.  What  good  is  it  to  sit  here  in  glorious  sun- 
236 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

shine  when  we  are  robbed  of  our  view  ahead !  I  consider  our 
position  and  decide  to  kill  the  last  dog.  For  if  we  become  too 
exhausted  we  shall  be  unable  to  hunt  when  we  do  reach  land ; 
so  let  us  stake  everything  on  one  card  and  eat  the  poor  animal. 
Merely  one  tube  of  glycerine  is  now  left  to  us. 

Three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

We  have  reached  land,  we  have  returned  to  food  and  to 
life !  We  have  escaped  from  the  terrible  embracing  of  the 
inland-ice  !  The  expedition  and  all  its  results  are  saved  !  Only 
one  who  has  experienced  excitement  similar  to  that  of  the 
last  few  days  will  be  able  to  realize  the  feelings  which  flow 
through  us ! 

Ajako's  reconnoitring  took  the  following  course  : 

After  a  couple  of  hours  of  absence  his  form  appeared  out 
of  the  fog,  and  at  a  distance  we  could  see  from  his  walk  and 
from  the  movement  of  his  arms  that  he  brought  good  tidings. 
He  was  wild  with  joy.  Not  merely  had  he  found  a  place  of 
descent  to  land,  but  he  had  also  been  on  it,  seen  a  hare,  and 
found  tracks  of  reindeer !  We  received  him  with  loud  shouts 
of  rejoicing  and  in  a  moment  we  were  all  on  our  way  down 
through  the  fog. 

The  place  of  descent  was  steep,  and  we  had  to  retard  the 
sledge  with  straps  fastened  under  the  runners ;  but  after  a 
daring  descent  we  landed  on  the  steep  cliff  to  which  a  narrow 
little  tongue  of  glacier  led  across  like  a  bridge.  For  miles  on 
both  sides  we  saw  the  steep  edge  of  the  inland-ice ;  thus  half 
blindly  we  had  found  the  only  place  where  descent  was  possible. 
With  an  indescribable  feeling  of  happiness  and  relief  we  jumped 
on  to  land  and  soon  after  all  the  baggage  was  in  safety. 

Only  the  sledge  remains  on  the  inland-ice,  its  snout  turned 
towards  the  cliff  walls ;  standing  there  alone  and  abandoned,  in 
this  landscape  it  looks  like  a  wrecked  ship. 

We  yet  possess  a  spoonful  of  tea,  and  hurriedly  we  boil  a 
kettle  of  water.  There  is  loud  good-humour  in  our  little  camp, 
for  in  half  an  hour  all  men  will  be  hunting. 

237 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

THE   SITUATION  IS   DISCUSSED 

First  we  call  a  council,  as  we  are  accustomed  to  do  on  serious 
situations  like  the  present.  We  all  agree  that  our  arrival  on 
land  means  salvation,  for  on  this  very  land  where  now  we  set 
our  feet  the  inhabitants  of  Etah  are  hunting  hares  and  reindeer 
every  autumn.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  clear  to  us  that  the 
remaining  200  kilometres  to  Etah  is  a  serious  distance  for  men 
so  exhausted  as  we  are. 

Dr.  Wulff  immediately  declared  that  he  cannot  continue  at 
once.  Koch  also  is  of  opinion  that  he  requires  a  couple  of  days' 
rest  before  he  will  be  able  to  undertake  the  long  walk.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  various  circumstances  make  it  essential  that  we 
should  reach  men  as  speedily  as  possible.  First  of  all  we  do  not 
possess  ammunition  for  a  prolonged  stay  here.  Secondly, 
because  of  the  water,  our  clothes  are  so  far  gone  that  our  lives 
will  be  endangered  unless  we  fall  in  with  people  before  the 
approach  of  the  first  cold  of  autumn. 

So  we  agree  that  Ajako  and  I  must  go  to  Etah  for  relief ; 
we  are  both  of  the  opinion  that  we  are  able  to  set  out  for  the 
long  walk  without  a  preceding  rest.  Harrigan  and  Bosun 
remain  in  order  to  hunt  for  Wulff  and  Koch,  who  have  no  longer 
strength  to  pursue  the  game. 

Ajako  and  I  reckon  that  in  this  stony  and  cleft  land,  inter- 
sected by  a  number  of  great  rivers,  we  shall  hardly  be  able  to 
make  the  journey  in  less  than  eight  days,  considering  the  bad 
weather.  Then  the  relief  sledges  have  to  be  fitted  out,  and 
this  will  take  at  any  rate  twenty-four  hours.  At  this  time  of 
the  year  people  have  not  yet  their  sledges  ready  for  use,  and 
these  preparations  require  time,  so  that  the  relief  sledges  could 
hardly  be  here  for  twelve  or  fourteen  days. 

None  of  us  consider  it  advisable  to  remain  here  for  such  a 
long  period.  The  neighbourhood  will  be  quickly  exhausted  of 
game,  so  the  best  thing  is  to  move  the  camp  towards  Etah  in 
short  daily  journeys.  For  other  reasons  also  this  arrangement 
is  desirable. 

Ajako  and  I  reckon  on  the  probability  of  being  so  com- 
238 


THE  HOMEWARD  JOURNEY 

pletely  exhausted  by  the  time  we  find  people,  that  neither  of 
us  will  have  strength  enough  to  return  with  the  relief  sledges. 
These  will  have  great  difficulty  in  finding  our  comrades'  camp 
in  this  moraine  tract,  full  of  seas  and  knolls,  so  that  one  point 
looks  just  like  another.  We  must  therefore  agree  upon  a  point 
where  those  who  are  to  be  saved  can  be  found  without  delay. 
In  the  near  neighbourhood  it  is  impossible  to  point  to  such  a 
place ;  but  behind  Cape  Russell,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  inland-ice,  there  is  a  big  lake  known  to  Harrigan  from 
previous  reindeer  hunts,  and  with  which  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Etah  are  familiar.  We  decide  that  our  comrades  must  move 
by  short  journeys  to  this  spot.  If  the  place  is  not  reached  by 
the  time  the  relief  sledges  are  expected  to  arrive,  the  two  Green- 
landers  can  easily  be  sent  ahead  to  communicate  with  the  relief 
party. 

I  advise  my  comrades  not  to  take  too  long  a  rest ;  when  in 
our  exhausted  condition  one  suddenly  omits  to  keep  the  body  in 
motion,  the  weariness  with  all  its  pains  will  be  felt  doubly  when 
once  more  one  has  to  continue  the  journey.  The  ammunition 
is  distributed  so  that  Dr.  Wulff 's  party  gets  eighty  cartridges 
of  small  shot  and  forty  rifle  cartridges,  which  should  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  period  of  waiting,  whilst  I  myself  take  a  Win- 
chester and  thirty  cartridges.  As  soon  as  all  the  details  are 
arranged  the  three  Eskimos  set  out  hunting  whilst  we  others 
remain  to  arrange  the  baggage.   .   .   . 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  25th  I  go  up  into  the  moun- 
tains to  look  out  for  the  hunters,  and  meet  Ajako  some  distance 
inland  with  a  first  bag  of  five  hares.  The  next  few  days  again 
seem  lighter  to  us.  May  Ajako  and  I  have  strength  to  get 
quickly  into  communication  with  people  and  get  speedy  relief 
for  our  comrades ! 

The  fog  has  been  lying  thickly  across  the  land  since  we 
arrived,  but  about  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  it  clears  up  some- 
what, and  in  order  to  make  the  most  possible  out  of  our  oppor- 
tunity to  get  a  view  of  the  land,  which  neither  Ajako  nor  I 
know,  we  set  out  on  our  walk.  We  bring  merely  the  strictly 
necessary  things — our  kamiks,  my  diaries,  and  nothing  else. 

239 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

We  part  from  our  comrades  in  the  best  of  spirits  after  a  feast 
of  newly  shot  hares.  The  camp  on  the  steep  cliff  seems  like  a 
fairy  tale ;  the  glacier  rolls  towards  it  like  a  frozen  ocean,  and 
we  ourselves  jump  about  on  the  stones  like  shipwrecked  men 
just  flung  on  land.  Dr.  Wulff  has  made  for  himself  a  comfort- 
able little  sleeping-place  on  a  moss-clad  shelf;  smilingly  he 
waves  good-bye,  calling  to  us  :  "  Now  don't  forget  to  send  some 
pancakes  with  the  relief  sledges  ! ' ' 

Harrigan  and  Bosun  have  not  yet  returned  from  their  hunt, 
and  this  long  absence  is  not  merely  a  good  proof  of  their  stub- 
born endurance,  it  also  gives  us  fresh  hope  that  perhaps  they 
have  succeeded  in  shooting  a  reindeer ;  and  reindeer  tallow  is 
the  article  of  which  we  are  most  in  need. 


240 


CHAPTER  XII 
SEEKING   HELP 

FIRST   DAY 

AUGUST  25TH-26TH. — Ajako  and  I  begin  our  walk  cheer- 
fully and  in  excellent  spirits.  It  is  beneficent,  relieving, 
"and  reviving,  to  walk  across  this  big  land  which  seems  to 
teem  with  life — at  least,  it  appears  so  to  us  after  many  months 
of  walking  in  the  desert.  Everywhere  a  wealth  of  flowers  thrust 
up  from  the  soil,  and  we  do  not  tire  in  our  admiration,  especially 
now  that  the  autumn  has  splashed  its  strong,  fresh  colours  over 
the  whole  landscape.  I  am  chiefly  impressed  by  the  vigour 
with  which  the  Polar  willow  has  developed.  Its  big  bold  leaves 
lie  everywhere  beneath  our  feet,  now  flaming  in  red  hues  like 
wild  vine,  now  shining  yellow  like  ochre  between  the  crimson 
saxifrage  and  green  heath ;  even  the  whortleberry  plant,  which 
unfortunately  does  not  bear  any  fruit,  has  gleaming  red  leaves. 

The  life  of  summer  has  passed  its  climax,  and  autumn 
has  dressed  everything  in  festive  garments ;  the  coolness  has 
announced  itself  before  the  cold,  the  colours  before  the  snow — 
a  last  blaze-up  before  the  sleep  of  winter. 

On  thick,  soft  moss  we  walk  along  the  small  mountain- 
rimmed  lakes,  which  wink  at  us  like  black,  deep  eyes.  For 
every  kilometre  we  pass  new  lakes,  which  unfortunately  often 
force  us  to  make  long,  toilsome  detours.  However  much  we 
are  desirous  of  making  haste,  our  road  goes  in  large  bends  and 
turns,  continually  up  and  down  across  beautiful  and  wild  but 
exceedingly  difficult  cloughs. 

To  the  north-west  we  have  all  the  little  islands  of  Peabody 
Bay  in  the  corner  towards  Humboldt's  Glacier ;  a  thick  fog  yet 
hangs  above  that  quarter,  hovering  like  the  steam  from  the 
q  241 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

"  Mosekone's  "*  brew  over  a  Danish  meadow.  The  many 
rivers  from  the  glacier  and  from  the  land  have  swept  away  the 
ice  along  the  coast,  and  for  the  first  time  we  look  across  a  stretch 
of  real,  open  water.  It  is  dead  calm,  and  only  the  drift  of  ice- 
floes on  the  current  gives  some  movement  in  this  mighty  land- 
scape which  the  lifting  fog  gradually  unveils  for  us.  There  is 
an  idyllic  beauty  over  the  many  little  lakes  and  islands,  and  the 
low  land  down  towards  the  bay ;  and  Ajako  and  I  are  agreed 
that  some  time  it  would  be  good  to  winter  here.  Round  the 
head  of  Advance  Bay  ruins  of  old  winter-houses  are  naturally 
to  be  found. 

The  ocean  is  full  of  seals,  the  bear  begins  his  exciting  wan- 
dering as  soon  as  the  ice  lies,  and  everywhere  in  the  lakes  there  is 
sure  to  be  salmon.  The  reindeer  stalk  across  the  land  and  hares 
seem  to  abound  ;  they  jump  up  before  us,  running  away  in  con- 
fused haste  behind  the  nearest  mountain,  not  knowing  that  for 
the  time  being  we  mean  to  do  them  no  harm.  As  there  seems 
to  be  plenty  of  game  here,  we  have  decided  not  to  hunt  until 
the  evening  meal,  when  the  march  of  the  day  is  finished.  We 
are  yet  so  exhausted  that  even  the  lightest  of  burdens  weighs 
heavily  on  us. 

From  a  mountain-top  we  get  a  view  across  Humboldt's 
Glacier;  evenly  and  quite  without  crevasses  it  extends  north- 
ward. Only  the  many  rivers  we  have  had  to  pass  break  its  sur- 
face with  deep  furrows ;  if  one  listens,  one  hears  the  enormous 
boom  from  the  watercourses.  It  is  good  to  be  on  land  now. 
The  glacier  appears  to  be  without  movement,  and  only  low, 
little  pieces  of  Sikussaq  float  in  the  bay,  which  is  partly 
frozen. 

By  midnight  we  pass  a  big  oblong  lake  with  an  unusually 
powerful  affluent  river.  We  follow  the  river  for  some  distance, 
looking  for  a  crossing  ;  but  as  it  is  everywhere  frothy  and  with  a 
strong  current,  we  decide  to  wade  across  it.  I  slide  on  a 
slippery  stone,  fall  and  get  soaked  through.  Not  very  comfort- 
able for  one  who  has  to  sleep  in  the  open  in  the  same  wet  clothes 

*  Mosekone  =  "  Bog-woman  " — one  of  the  many  Danish  fairies. — 
Trans. 

242 


SEEKING  HELP 

and  without  a  cover !  Never  mind,  a  healthy  body  is  a  patient 
tool ! 

In  the  morning  we  reached  the  plateau  behind  Cape  Scott. 
Just  before  this  we  had  to  wade  through  a  river.  Across  the 
river  the  landscape  changes  entirely  in  character.  It  becomes 
more  desolate,  more  stony,  and  suddenly  it  seems  as  if  all  the 
hares  have  disappeared  into  the  ground. 

At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  after  a  walk  of  thirteen 
hours,  we  stop  and  cook  a  young  hare  which  we  have  shot  on 
the  way.  Then  we  survey  the  land  to  make  sure  of  the  direc- 
tion we  must  take  before  the  fog  comes.  We  are  now  up  on  a 
uniform  tableland  which  has  none  of  the  many  doughs  and 
lakes  we  met  with  to-day ;  we  shall  have  quicker  going 
to-morrow. 

At  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  lie  down,  each  by  his 
stone,  to  get  a  little  sleep  before  we  set  to  once  more. 

SECOND  DAY 

August  26th-27th. — At  three  o'clock  we  wake  up,  and  as 
the  sky  again  looks  threatening  we  agree  that  it  is  wiser  to 
hurry  on  towards  better  hunting-grounds. 

During  the  first  part  of  our  journey  the  tableland  is  of  a 
kindly  character,  with  plains  of  grass  and  little  lakes.  In  many 
places  we  find  fresh  tracks  of  reindeer,  and  we  keep  hoping  we 
shall  have  the  good  fortune  to  shoot  an  animal ;  we  might  then 
be  able  to  rest  a  little  and  have  time  to  dry  our  wet  clothes. 
But  as  evening  approaches  the  treacherous  fog  comes  up  behind 
us  from  the  north-west,  and  the  land  becomes  more  barren ;  at 
length  the  grass  plains  stop  entirely  and  we  are  now  walking  on 
sharp,  naked  stones. 

During  the  night  we  reach  a  large  lake  which  borders  right 
on  the  inland-ice ;  the  old  winter  ice  still  lies  on  it,  only  one  of 
its  banks  being  opened  by  a  river  which  runs  out  of  the  lake, 
foaming  big  and  white  between  enormous  stones.  It  does  not 
look  tempting — the  sight  of  it  is  like  a  grip  round  my  throat. 
Am  I  to  fall  again  now?  The  weather  is  raw  and  foggy,  and 
I  am  faint  with  hunger. 

243 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

But  when  things  look  blackest  we  generally  find  the  easiest 
way  out.  Without  unnecessary  hesitation  Ajako  and  I  seized 
each  other's  hands,  and  thus  propping  one  another  up  we  went 
out  into  the  water.  We  got  thoroughly  wet,  but  neither  of  us 
slipped  and  fell.  This  good  luck  encouraged  and  strengthened 
us  as  much  as  a  good  meal  could  have  done. 

On  the  other  bank  of  the  glacier  lake  we  found  an  absolute 
stone  desert  consisting  entirely  of  big  loose  moraine  stones ;  a 
multitude  of  larger  and  smaller  lakes  filled  the  landscape,  which 
was  practically  without  vegetation,  and  often  we  found  ourselves 
forced  to  keep  our  direction  by  making  considerable  detours. 
Yet  one  river  we  must  wade  across ;  we  are  now  in  good  prac- 
tice, and  our  feet  have  been  wet  for  these  last  two  or  three 
months ! 

THIRD   DAY 

August  27th-28th. — We  tried  to  sleep  last  night  as  well  as 
might  be,  each,  as  usual,  by  his  stone.  But  it  was  almost  too 
cold  in  our  wet  clothes,  on  which  the  fog  settled  so  that  our 
bodies  became  quite  white  with  hoar-frost. 

Every  time  I  slept  I  dreamed  about  my  home.  Such 
dreams,  beautiful  and  pleasant  during  sleep,  are  extraordinarily 
exhausting,  for  as  soon  as  one  wakes  up  and  must  turn  to,  reality 
always  seems  doubly  rough  and  hopeless.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  arouses  such  a  lively  feeling  of  what  is  owing  to  those  who  are 
awaiting  one's  return,  that  immediately  the  teeth  are  clenched 
and  obstinacy  is  summoned  to  fight  the  adversities  which  are 
breaking  one's  strength. 

About  seven  o'clock  the  fog  lifted  somewhat,  and  at  once 
we  got  to  our  feet  and  turned  towards  the  places  where  we  might 
find  something  to  eat.  A  tough  will  to  endure  strengthened 
us  both  ;  although  we  had  tasted  no  food  for  nearly  two  days  we 
did  not  feel  any  weakness. 

Every  time  we  pass  a  deep  cleft  we  spy  in  vain  for  a  small 
white  dot — a  hare.     Reindeer  we  dare  no  longer  hope  for. 

Once,  as  we  get  a  view  over  an  unusually  hopeless  stone 
desert,  we  settle  between  us  that  we  can  manage  to  continue 
244 


SEEKING  HELP 

for  another  two  days  and  nights  without  food  ;  we  both  feel  that 
we  are  able  to  do  this,  and  by  that  time  we  must  surely  be  on 
better  hunting-ground. 

During  this  discussion  I  say  to  Ajako  : 

"  Even  if  we  shall  hold  each  other  by  the  arms  for  support 
when  we  begin  to  totter  with  exhaustion,  we  will  continue  our 
walk  ;  we  will  not  give  in  as  long  as  we  can  crawl." 

Ajako  nods  as  he  answers  : 

"Shall  we  decide  that  neither  of  us  will  mention  food 
again?" 

After  that  we  get  up  and  continue. 

Due  west-south-west  we  pass  a  big  lake  in  the  midst  of  the 
mountains ;  fortunately,  we  do  not  come  across  its  outlet,  but 
set  our  course  through  a  valley-like  clough,  where,  as  in  other 
and  more  fertile  places,  we  find  not  a  few  bones  and  antlers  of 
reindeer. 

By  noon  we  spy  a  little  white  dot  in  front  of  us,  and  both 
stop  as  if  nailed  to  the  ground.  A  hare !  Meat  for  the  pot, 
food  for  the  stomach,  marrow  for  the  bones  ! 

Half  an  hour  later  we  are  sitting  cooking  it  by  a  big  flaming 
fire.  All  adversity  forgotten,  all  weariness  has  left  our  limbs. 
As  soon  as  we  have  eaten  we  will  continue ;  but  first  the  meal. 
Fortune  has  favoured  us.  The  hare  is  fat,  like  a  young  reindeer 
with  thick,  white,  fat  round  kidneys  and  pelvis !  And  the 
blood  we  have  poured  into  the  soup — oh,  how  good  it  will  be ! 
But  now  when  we  have  seen  the  meat  it  is  as  if  hunger  wakes 
up  and  tears  savagely  at  our  vitals ;  so  immediately  we  eat  the 
entrails  raw  whilst  we  wait  for  the  pot  to  boil. 

Half  an  hour's  walk  from  the  place  where  we  cooked  our 
meal  we  reach  a  lake  which  we  presume  must  be  the  well-known 
ice-mountain  lake  behind  Cape  Russell,  the  place  where  the 
relief  sledges  are  to  meet  our  comrades.  The  lake  goes  right 
up  to  the  glacier,  and  a  couple  of  largish  ice-mountains  float  on 
it.  We  have  travelled  upwards  of  100  kilometres !  It  is  a 
great  spur  to  our  pace,  and  unconsciously  we  speed  up. 

To  pass  the  sea  we  have  first  got  to  cross  three  rather  large 

245 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

effluent  rivers.  The  first  of  them  is  deep  and  the  water  reaches 
above  our  knees.  Another  wetting,  but  what  about  it  if  only 
we  can  get  ahead.     Straight  forward,  never  give  up  ! 

On  the  southern  side  of  the  river  we  come  to  quite  new 
terrain  which  again  rouses  the  hunter's  instinct  in  both  of  us. 
Here  our  course  goes  up  and  down  again,  through  doughs  and 
valleys,  across  huge  heaps  of  snow,  wearying  and  heavy.  But 
the  land  is  fertile ;  we  look  across  meadows  along  river-beds, 
vigorous  slopes  of  willow  and  heather,  moss  and  grass  and  what- 
ever else  might  tempt  a  reindeer.  But  in  vain  we  stare  our 
eyes  stiff.     Nothing  living  anywhere  ! 

We  continue  until  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  then  we  meet 
with  the  river,  which,  contrary  to  all  those  we  have  passed  so  far, 
runs  towards  the  inland-ice.  On  its  banks  five  young  hares  are 
playing,  and  we  shoot  three.  Once  more  a  huge  fire  flares  up 
in  the  gloaming ;  we  will  make  blood  soup  from  all  the  three 
hares — that  will  give  warmth  for  the  night.  Soon  after  mid- 
night the  fog  as  usual  slinks  up.  It  is  one  o'clock  when  we  lie 
down  to  rest  after  fifteen  hours'  walk  without  a  stop.  We  feel 
in  our  bodies  that  to-day  we  have  had  the  food  that  we  needed  ; 
for  although  the  fog,  as  usual,  grows  thicker  and  thicker  as  dark- 
ness comes  and  the  snow  once  more  begins  to  fall,  we  do  not 
feel  the  cold  although  we  are  lying  on  the  bare  ground. 

FOURTH   DAY 

Another  grey,  depressing  day,  but  our  spirits  are  better 
than  ever  as  we  set  out  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  for  the 
first  time  since  we  left  our  comrades  in  Advance  Bay  we  have 
had  a  sound,  long  sleep. 

But  now  our  footgear,  which  we  have  not  been  able  to  dry 
since  we  left  St.  George  Fjord,  is  getting  into  a  very  bad  condi- 
tion. The  seams  are  bursting  in  consequence  of  the  continual 
wetting,  and  we  have  difficulties  in  keeping  the  kamiks  on  our 
feet.  Further,  our  sinew-thread  is  nearly  used  up,  and  we  have 
only  one  needle  left.  With  all  our  hearts  we  hope  for  a  day  of 
sunshine  and  for  a  reindeer,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the  tallow 
and  the  meat,  but  also  in  order  to  get  sinews. 
246 


SEEKING  HELP 

There  must  be  a  good  100  kilometres  to  Etah,  and  we  are 
sure  to  manage  this  distance  in  three  days. 

We  are  slow  in  getting  up  speed  to-day ;  we  are  unaccus- 
tomed to  being  satiated  and  heavy,  besides  which  we  have 
reversed  our  old  order  of  day  and  night,  as  we  are  walking  dur- 
ing the  warm  day  and  sleeping  in  the  colder  night.  We  must 
therefore  walk  along  slowly,  and  try  to  go  for  twenty-four 
hours,  not  resting  until  the  forenoon  of  to-morrow. 

The  going  is  better  and  better,  more  even  than  before ;  but 
we  pass  a  stony  clough  where  we  must  hop  and  jump  from  one 
large  block  to  another  until  our  foot-soles  burn.  We  traverse  it 
and  come  out  on  a  plain  stretching  widely  and  openly  ahead, 
with  little  rivers  and  occasional  vigorous  grass-meadows  shining 
sun-gilt  against  the  dark  crimson  stone-heaps.  Here  the  fog 
once  more  overtakes  us.  It  is  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and  as  we  can  get  no  view  ahead  we  sit  down  with  our  backs 
towards  a  cliff  wall,  hoping  that  the  fog  will  soon  lift. 

We  meet  the  "  Eider  duck." 

I  sit  and  doze,  and  am  awakened  by  Ajako  jumping  up ;  I 
hardly  believe  my  own  ears  when  I  hear  the  shout :  "  Inugssuaq  ! 
Takiik,  inugssuaq!" 

A  start  went  through  me.  A  man!  Where?  Who? 
From  where?     I  got  to  my  feet  in  a  hurry. 

A  short  distance  away  I  plainly  saw  a  man  coming  out  of 
the  fog,  a  reindeer  hunter  with  a  little  bundle  on  his  back.  A 
skin  and  some  meat — perhaps  ! 

One  can  imagine  what  impression  this  made  on  us  two  wan- 
derers, who,  like  shipwrecked  men  struggling  along  on  this 
stony  moraine,  suddenly  see  salvation  and  meet  a  man  for  the 
first  time  after  half  a  year's  absence. 

We  both  shouted.  The  man  stopped,  listened,  and  dis- 
covered us  when  we  repeated  our  shout. 

A  few  minutes  later  we  met  and  found  that  it  was  Miteq,  the 
"  Eiderduck,"  who  had  come  up  here  from  Kukat,  one  of  the 
camps  near  Inglefield  Gulf,  to  hunt  reindeer.     He  was  in  the 

247 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

company  of  Qulutana,  Ajako's  brother-in-law  and  Ilaitoq,  his 
sister,  and  Assarpanguaq,  Majaq's  son.  They  had  been 
together  until  a  few  hours  ago  when  they  agreed  to  part  com- 
pany and  hunt  alone,  each  for  himself.  Their  dogs,  three 
teams,  were  lying  some  ten  hours'  walk  from  the  place  of  our 
meeting,  approximately  midway  between  Marshall  Bay  and 
Renslaer  Harbour.     These  were  good  tidings  indeed ! 

The  "  Eiderduck,"  of  course,  gave  up  his  hunt  immediately 
in  order  to  help  us.  But  we  also  wished  to  get  into  communi- 
cation with  Ajako's  brother-in-law  and  sister,  so  we  lit  a  big 
fire  of  cassiope  and  fired  signal-shots  in  different  directions. 
We  spent  several  hours  in  a  vain  search,  for  the  fog  prevented 
the  Eskimos  from  seeing  the  smoke  from  our  fire,  and  the  many 
clefts  prevented  them  from  hearing  the  shots.  The  reindeer 
hunters  roam  over  long  stretches,  and  Panguaq  had  informed 
the  "  Eiderduck  "  that  if  his  hunting  was  successful  he  might 
stay  away  for  about  a  week.  If  we  had  been  able  to  get  hold 
of  these  three  people  there  would  have  been  the  possibility  that 
we  could  return  to  our  comrades  at  once  with  relief.  But  this 
had  to  be  given  up ;  so  we  continued  our  walk  towards  the 
"  Eiderduck's  "  camp,  now  at  a  considerably  quicker  pace  than 
in  the  morning. 

Meanwhile  we  had  at  once  pumped  the  ' '  Eiderduck ' '  for 
everything  worth  hearing  during  the  half-year  of  our  absence, 
and  new  impressions  poured  in  over  us. 

The  most  important  piece  of  news  was  that  a  fresh  ship  had 
been  sent  up  after  the  Crockerland  Expedition,  led  by  Peary's 
famous  Captain  Bartlett.  In  the  beginning  of  the  summer 
he  had  pushed  his  way  through  ice  and  all  kind  of  weather.  At 
a  point  near  Cape  Parry  Captain  Bartlett  had  met  with  the 
Danmark,  which  later  on  had  returned  without  going  up  to 
Etah.  Everything  was  well  in  Thule  and  round  about  in  the 
different  camps ;  all  our  pack-sledges  had  returned  in  good 
condition. 

But  the  War?     Did  he  know  anything  about  that? 
Oh  yes,  he  did !     The  crew  of  the  ship  had  told  him  that  it 
248 


SEEKING  HELP 

nitred  worse  than  ever.  The  white  men  were  engaged  in  exter- 
minating each  other.  Many  big  camps  were  already  mere 
stone-heaps  inhabited  by  hungry  widows  and  fatherless  chil- 
dren. A  terrible  blood-thirst  had  seized  upon  the  white 
men.  Nobody  went  hunting  or  travelling  now,  they  merely 
slaughtered  each  other.  And  the  white  men  now,  more  than 
ever  before,  used  all  their  cunning  and  great  wisdom  for  the 
purpose  of  destroying  each  other. 

Nowhere  in  their  land  was  shelter  and  safety  to  be  found ; 
they  attacked  each  other  from  the  surface  of  the  soil,  from  the 
sky,  from  the  sea,  and  from  the  deeps  of  the  great  waters. 
Usually  they  shot  blindly  at  a  long  distance,  killing  people 
whom  they  had  never  seen  and  with  whom  they  had  no  quarrel. 

More  and  more  countries  joined  in  ;  Peary's  land  (America) 
also  was  now  at  war.  Peary  himself  was  now  lord  of  those  who 
fought  in  the  air.  On  board  Captain  Bartlett's  ship  there  was 
a  physician  who  told  that  he  also  had  been  up  in  the  air ;  it  was 
so  cold  that  now  he  was  very  keen  to  buy  fox-skins  which  he 
wanted  to  use  on  his  next  air  journey. 

The  land  "  attacked  by  many  "  (Germany)  was  not  yet  con- 
quered, although  there  was  hardly  any  camp  in  the  countries 
of  the  white  men  which  did  not  fight  against  it. 

In  one  of  the  warring  countries  a  great  man  had  arisen,  a 
strong  man,  who  had  made  all  his  countrymen  obey  him 
although  he  was  only  a  ranker  (Kerenski).  He  was  now  lord 
of  the  country.  Before  this  happened  there  had  been  some 
talk  about  stopping  the  War,  but  now  the  killing  raged  more 
savagely  than  ever,  and  it  was  doubtful  whether  ships  would 
come  to  "  the  land  of  men  "  (Greenland)  again. 

To  receive  all  this  recent  news  was  like  coming  into  a 
typhoon.  Yesterday  two  lonely  wanderers  fighting  their 
modest  fight  for  their  own  and  their  comrades'  life  through  a 
barren  land,  and  to-day  once  more  in  touch  with  ordered  society, 
perhaps  the  most  ideal  in  the  world  at  present,  and  simul- 
taneously in  the  midst  of  the  horrors  of  war.  It  was  doubly 
overwhelming  to  receive  these  tidings  through  this  naive  and 

249 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

human  description,  given  by  a  man  whom  the  cultured  civilized 
being  looks  upon  as  a  primitive  savage. 

Our  own  fight  to  win  for  science  new  ground,  our  suffering 
and  toil,  how  slight  it  all  seems  compared  with  the  sighs  of  the 
millions  which  now  resound  through  the  bleeding  world. 

Will  anyone  have  time  to  stop  and  pay  attention  to  the  work 
we  have  done  ? 

During  the  march  down  to  the  camp  of  the  "  Eiderduck  " — 
sometimes  jumping  between  the  sharp  blocks  of  the  stone- 
heaps,  wading  across  little  rivers,  or  hastening  across  soft 
meadows  with  their  welcome  rest  for  the  sore  balls  of  our  feet — 
such  were  the  thoughts  that  went  through  my  brain. 

It  was  nearly  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  we  reached 
the  moraine  where  the  reindeer  hunters  had  their  camp.  In 
a  strong  feeling  of  joy  and  gratitude  that  our  sufferings  now 
seemed  at  an  end,  I  picked  a  still  beautiful  and  flowering  poppy 
in  memory  of  the  day.  It  was  almost  as  if  I  were  now  at 
home. 

But  before  we  went  to  rest  we  broke  into  the  "  Eider- 
duck's"  meat  store  and  boiled  seal  meat  with  blubber,  which 
we  ate  with  an  appetite  known  only  by  one  who  for  a  long 
time  has  fought  against  starvation  and  an  almost  empty 
stomach. 

The  first  question  to  be  decided  after  we  had  found  men  was 
whether  there  would  be  any  possibility  of  returning  for  our 
comrades  immediately.  As  already  mentioned,  it  would  be 
hopeless  to  wait  for  the  "  Eiderduck 's  "  party;  for  Qulutana, 
who  was  a  keen  hunter,  had  emphatically  declared  that  his 
hunting  might  last  for  some  time  if  he  did  not  quickly  come 
across  game.  We  immediately  took  stock  of  the  provisions 
and  found  that  they  consisted  merely  of  a  small  piece  of 
bearded  seal,  which  would  only  constitute  one  meal  for  seven 
men.  This  piece  of  meat  belonged  to  the  "  Eiderduck  "  ;  he 
also  had  a  piece  of  blubber  for  one  feed  for  his  dogs.  Qulutana, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  no  meat  at  all  on  this  spot.  From 
previous  years  of  hunting  he  still  possessed  some  old  depots  in 
250 


SEEKING  HELP 

the  country  on  which  he  had  reckoned,  but  where  they  were 
situated  the  "  Eiderduck  "  had  not  the  slightest  idea. 

The  dogs  would  be  of  no  use  to  us  on  the  ground  towards 
Cape  Agassiz.  The  country  was  bare  of  snow  and  would  be 
impracticable  for  a  sledge,  and  on  the  inland-ice  there  were 
yet  the  many  rivers  which  could  not  be  crossed  to  advantage. 
So  if  we  were  to  bring  relief  to  our  comrades  we  must  walk 
to  them,  and  that  without  any  considerable  increase  of  pro- 
visions. Proper  hunting  during  a  quick  march  was,  as  we 
had  experienced,  not  to  be  reckoned  on. 

According  to  the  map,  and  considering  the  terrain  we  had 
had  to  cross,  it  would  be  at  least  150  kilometres  to  our  old  tent- 
camp.  We  had  arrived  here  in  four  days  by  marches  as  forced 
as  our  strength  permitted  ;  it  was  doubtful  whether  it  would  be 
possible  for  us  once  more  to  cover  the  distance  in  the  same 
time,  and  it  was  also  absolutely  essential  to  us  that  our  foot- 
gear should  be  dried.  Thus  it  would  take  nine  or  ten  days 
before  we  could  once  more  be  back  in  our  old  camp,  and  it 
would  be  highly  improbable  that  Dr.  Wulff' s  party  would 
remain  there  until  then.  It  would  at  any  rate  be  against  the 
decisions  we  had  come  to  in  the  council  of  the  expedition  before 
we  separated.  If,  in  an  attempt  to  bring  relief  which  under 
all  circumstances  would  not  be  effective,  as  it  brought  merely 
one  fresh  man  with  quite  inadequate  provisions  in  the  company 
of  two  already  worn-out  men,  we  now  missed  them  in  the  wild 
mountainous  tracts,  all  we  should  have  achieved  would  be  to 
hinder  the  really  significant  help  which  would  come  from  Etah  ; 
and  this  would  be  unjustifiable.  So  I  decided  without  delay 
to  continue  the  journey  to  Etah. 

FIFTH   DAY 

29th,  SOth,  31st  August  to  September  1st. — Noon,  29th  of 
August.  Yesterday  over,  the  strained  tension  of  the  expedition 
appears  to  be  at  an  end,  if  our  comrades  do  not  meet  with  too 
many  adversities.  I  myself  feel  to-day  that  our  task  is  con- 
cluded, and  for  the  first  time  for  a  long  period  I  am  in  calm 
water. 

251 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

The  point  now  is  to  persist  without  sleep  so  that  Etah  may 
be  reached  and  the  relief  sledges  fitted  out  and  despatched 
immediately.  During  our  preparations  to  break  up  I  decide 
to  kidnap  the  dogs  of  the  absent  reindeer  hunters  without  fur- 
ther ado.  I  know  they  will  forgive  me  as  soon  as  we  meet, 
and  the  dogs  will  be  returned  forthwith  from  Etah.  Unfor- 
tunately none  of  the  hunters  can  read,  so  we  must  express  our- 
selves by  picture-script.  The  difficulty  is  solved  by  Ajako 
sketching  a  map  of  the  coast,  giving  our  final  route  across  the 
inland-ice  to  Peabody  Bay,  where  four  men  are  drawn.  Then 
three  men  and  two  sledges  are  drawn  by  the  camp  of  the  rein- 
deer hunters,  driving  to  Etah,  and  finally  beneath  it  all  are  the 
relief  sledges  hurrying  towards  the  big  lake  by  the  inland-ice. 

Then  we  capture  the  dogs.  Most  of  them  are  loose  and 
rather  fierce,  and  do  not  seem  enthusiastic  at  the  idea  of  being 
stolen  by  strangers ;  but  we  succeed  in  the  course  of  an  hour  in 
binding  them  all. 

So  we  set  out  on  our  last  journey,  of  which  I  will  merely 
give  a  short  summary  now  that  we  are  travelling  like  lords  with 
large,  fresh  teams. 

Our  days  passed  in  the  following  manner  : 

August  29th  :  Wake  up  half -past  ten  in  the  morning. 
Cook  food.  Capture  the  dogs.  Start  across  the  inland-ice 
3  p.m. 

August  30th  :  A  sudden  storm  and  thick  snow  overwhelm 
us  at  midnight.  Remain  for  a  few  hours  in  the  shelter  of  the 
sledges  and  continue  when  it  clears  up. 

August  30th  :  At  2  p.m.  the  Etah  district  is  reached  in  a 
storm  from  the  north.  The  sledges  are  left  by  the  edge  of  the 
glacier,  and  after  a  very  strenuous  walk  across  mountains,  camp 
is  reached  at  9  p.m. 

In  the  course  of  the  night  and  the  day  of  the  31st  of  August 
the  relief  sledges  are  fitted  out,  and  at  last  on  the  1st  of  Sep- 
tember they  leave. 


252 


SEEKING  HELP 


THE    ARRIVAL   AT   ETAH 

The  arrival  at  Etah  will  to  me  always  remain  unforgettable, 
especially  with  the  experiences  of  the  last  five  months  as  a 
background. 

All  the  inhabitants  of  Etah  had  moved  into  the  house  of 
the  Crockerland  Expedition,  and,  as  there  was  no  one  outside, 
we  came  right  up  to  the  house  without  being  discovered.  But 
then  they  saw  us  through  the  window  and  out  they  poured — 
men,  women  and  children,  like  lava  under  a  volcanic  eruption, 
overwhelming  us  with  loud  shouts  of  welcome  and  a  perfect 
hubbub  of  delight. 

In  the  very  moment  when  we  stepped  across  the  threshold 
from  death  to  life,  from  the  great  silent  waste  to  the  happy 
little  camp,  we  found  ourselves  suddenly  in  a  crush  of  people. 
The  noise  was  deafening.  From  all  points  they  laughed  their 
welcome,  and  hearty  words  sounded  cheering  in  our  ears. 
Questions  rained  over  us,  and  it  was  as  if  big  waves  beat 
together  above  our  heads  and  swallowed  us. 

The  winter-house  of  the  Crockerland  Expedition  is  built  so 
that  from  the  outside,  through  an  ante-room  which  takes  up 
the  whole  breadth  of  the  house,  one  comes  into  a  roomy  apart- 
ment ;  this,  with  an  oven  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  represents 
partly  kitchen  and  dining-room,  partly  a  common  room  with 
seats  along  the  walls.  From  this  room  doors  lead  to  six  smaller 
rooms  on  the  right  and  left  wall  and  in  the  background. 

In  the  small  rooms  six  families  were  living  in  peace  and 
unity  with  a  common  kitchen  in  the  big  room.  All  these 
respectable  housewives  now  vied  with  each  other  in  dishing  out 
food  for  us  on  a  long  table  which  stood  in  the  middle  of  the 
room.  It  was  a  luxurious  table,  with  leavings  from  the  rich 
Crockerland  Expedition.  Some  brought  pemmican,  some 
brought  biscuits.  Dishes  were  set  down  with  Richard  potatoes, 
tinned  tomatoes,  beans  and  bacon,  porridge  with  treacle,  brown 
bread  in  tins,  fried  hares,  boiled  seal  meat,  gulls  in  rice  soup 

253 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

with  dried  turnips  and  spinach,  tea  with  the  food,  and  coffee 
after ;  finally,  real  American  cut-plug  tobacco. 

The  whole  thing  was  like  an  hallucination,  one  of  those 
which  used  to  mock  us  during  our  periods  of  starvation.  But 
as  reality  gradually  was  brought  home  to  us  through  the  strong 
odours  which  entered  our  nostrils,  we  felt  in  the  presence  of  an 
Eastern  revelation  from  the  tale  of  Aladdin !  We  struggled 
for  breath  in  face  of  this  abundance  ;  here  was  food  for  an  appe- 
tite sharpened  by  half  a  year  of  strict  economy,  and  by  the 
strenuous  final  spurt  of  the  last  thirty-four  hours !  Our  only 
difficulty  was  to  decide  from  which  end  of  the  table  it  would 
be  best  to  start. 

But  it  was  clear  to  me  that  in  the  beginning  we  had  to  be 
very  careful  about  the  food,  as  our  stomachs  through  a  long 
period  were  accustomed  to  very  sparse  and  quite  unvaried  food. 

In  spite  of  all  protestations  from  our  hosts  and  hostesses, 
in  spite  of  a  wolfish  hunger  which  was  aggravated  by  the  lovely 
odour  of  the  many  delicacies  which  for  so  long  we  had  missed, 
I  tried  to  restrain  myself  and  made  honest  attempts  at  eating 
as  little  as  possible.  For  how  annoying  if  the  joy  of  our 
arrival  were  to  be  interrupted  by  a  wretched  and  prosaic  colic  ! 

It  was  a  feast  according  to  the  best  of  European  standards. 
Even  orchestral  music  was  not  lacking ;  a  recently  arrived, 
brand-new  gramophone  was  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  lavish 
abundance  and  entertained  us  with  a  large  and  varied  reper- 
toire, from  Wagner  to  the  latest  imported  tangoes  from  Argen- 
tine and  Paris ! 

It  was  obvious  that  the  gates  of  life  had  again  been  opened 
widely,  and  even  if  we  were  merely  by  the  outmost  Northern 
posts  of  humanity  we  had  found  an  echo  from  the  great  world 
of  good  and  evil  in  which  we  ourselves  were  at  home  !  Involun- 
tarily I  had  to  close  my  eyes  and  collect  myself  somewhat ;  I 
felt  my  temples  hammering  and  my  heart  throbbing,  and,  as  the 
orchestra  after  a  pause  commenced  beautifully  and  softly  the 
minuet  of  "  Don  Juan,"  Etah  disappeared  from  my  con- 
sciousness. .  .  . 
254 


C'AI'TAIN    GEORGE    COMER 


THE    CROl'KERLAND    EXPEDITION  S    HUT 


SEEKING  HELP 

I  am  back  at  Lynge  Vicarage  and  do  not  hear  the  gramo- 
phone— it  is  my  sister  who  is  playing  our  old  piano  with  its 
spinet  tones  ;  a  window  to  the  garden  is  open  and  a  mild  breeze 
taps  the  panes  with  the  vine ;  the  fragrance  of  summer  and 
flowers  floats  in  to  us,  and  I  hear  the  well-known  beloved 
rustling  through  the  leaves  of  the  big  lime-trees.  Round  about 
me  sit  all  those  I  love,  listening  absorbed  to  the  graceful  melody 
of  Mozart.   .   .  . 

Once  more  a  pause,  then  the  music  plays  up  again  :  now  it 
is  reminiscences  of  Chopin — a  phantasy  over  a  mazurka,  a 
waltz,  and  the  famous  polonaise.  The  scene  changes  :  I  am 
back  in  my  own  rooms  and  my  wife  sits  at  the  grand ;  we  are 
alone  with  our  children ;  a  deep  peace  has  settled  on  our  minds 
— a  mood  of  dusk  which  is  only  broken  when  a  car  rolls  along 
the  street  or  a  speedy  motor  coughs  its  way  ahead. 

I  must  close  my  eyes  again  to  keep  the  picture.  As  a 
distant  buzzing  I  hear  our  Eskimo  friends  telling  Ajako  of  the 
walrus-hunt  of  the  summer ;  through  a  mist  I  see  the  women 
of  the  house,  who  have  now,  after  the  execution  of  their  house- 
wifely duties,  sat  down  on  the  benches  to  stop  the  mouths  of 
their  fidgety  youngest  ones  with  the  abundance  of  their  breasts. 

A  door  opens  and  the  yell  of  sledge-dogs  deafens  for  a 
moment  the  music.  I  had  almost  forgotten  that  there  are  yet 
two  large  oceans  between  my  home-sick  visions  and  the  present. 
I  am  once  more  in  Etah,  and  now  to  work  for  our  comrades 
who  are  yet  in  Inglefield  Land  waiting  for  help.  The  sledges 
must  be  fitted  out  and  despatched  forthwith. 


A   DISAPPOINTMENT 

As  soon  as  the  first  hubbub  of  our  arrival  has  simmered 
down,  before  I  can  do  anything  else,  I  must  survey  our  present 
position  and  decide  wherefrom  we  could  take  the  necessary 
things  for  the  outfit  of  the  relief  expedition.  Only  two  letters 
awaited  me — one  from  Peter  Freuchen  in  Thule,  and  one  from 
Captain  Comer  of  the  Crockerland  Expedition.  There  was 
no  date  to  Freuchen 's  letter ;  it  had  probably  been  sent  by  the 

255 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

Danmark.  Beside  general  news  from  Thule,  he  informed  me 
that  he  had  sent  a  box  of  provisions  and  various  delicacies, 
amongst  these  a  barrel  of  beer  to  be  drunk  at  the  feast  on  our 
arrival.  The  letter  was  like  Freuchen  himself,  beautiful  and 
hearty,  the  first  message  from  a  friend  to  a  friend  which  I 
received.  But  unfortunately  the  dear  Americans  had  for- 
gotten to  unload  the  goods,  which,  especially  in  our  present 
position,  would  have  been  doubly  welcome. 

Captain  Comer,  who  had  also  written  a  warm  greeting  of 
welcome,  informed  me  that  it  was  the  well-known  Arctic 
Ocean  traveller  Neptune,  which  had  been  here  for  the  Crocker- 
land  Expedition.  It  had  met  the  Danmark  approximately  by 
Cape  Parry,  where  it  had  taken  on  board  the  goods  of  the 
expedition  found  on  the  Danmark.  The  latter  was  then  ordered 
to  return  to  South  Greenland.  In  addition  to  this  letter  the 
considerate  captain  had  left  some  newspapers,  with  the  latest 
news  from  the  War  which,  of  course,  were  no  less  welcome 
than  the  letter  itself. 

Time  after  time  during  my  many  journeys  up  here  I  have 
experienced  that  one  always  receives  the  most  beautiful  impres- 
sion of  the  Eskimos  when  one  comes  to  them  as  a  poor  man 
without  possessions.  If  one  has  large  and  rich  stores  upon 
which  to  draw,  even  the  best  of  one's  friends  often  seem  to 
speculate  as  to  the  payment  they  will  receive  for  services  ren- 
dered. But  if  one  has  nothing,  they  nevertheless  do  every- 
thing with  the  same  joy  and  generosity,  and  they  do  it  all  from 
the  bottom  of  their  good  hearts. 

And  once  more  this  experience  is  mine,  though  they  them- 
selves require  their  stores,  as  the  summer  hunt  of  walrus  failed 
totally.  But  they  are  generous  as  ever,  and  vie  with  each  other 
in  putting  at  my  disposal  whatever  they  possess.  There  is 
unison  in  the  chorus  about  me  :  everything  here  is  yours — our 
house,  our  provisions,  our  dogs ;  we  ourselves  will  go  wherever 
you  wish  to  help  your  comrades.  With  joy  we  will  go,  all 
of  us ! 

I  examine  all  their  provisions  and  make  the  arrangements 
256 


SEEKING  HELP 

for  the  relief  sledges.  All  the  night  and  the  following  day  are 
taken  up  in  these  preparations,  for  sledges  and  dogs  have  not 
been  used  during  the  whole  summer,  and  there  is  much  to  look 
over  and  renew.  At  length,  at  noon  on  the  1st  of  September, 
everything  is  ready,  and  six  men  and  five  dogs  start.  The 
baggage  is  brought  in  two  boats,  the  dogs  being  driven  across 
land  to  the  head  of  Foulke  Fjord.  Already  on  the  following 
day  they  will  be  in  the  land  of  the  reindeer.  Their  orders  are 
to  go  no  further  than  the  big  lake  with  the  ice-mountains  which 
Ajako  and  I  reached  after  a  march  of  two  days.  Here  a  beacon 
is  to  be  built  where  the  main  provisions  and  two  men  are  to 
be  left,  whilst  the  remainder,  also  carrying  provisions,  are  to 
search  the  district  northward  in  different  directions.  As  my 
agreement  with  Dr.  Wulff's  party  was  that  they,  or  at  any 
rate,  Harrigan  and  Bosun,  were  to  go  southward  to  this  lake 
as  quickly  as  their  condition  permitted,  it  cannot  be  many  days 
before  the  new  helpers  with  their  provisions  meet  with  our 
comrades. 

September  1st. — Ajako  and  I  are  standing  on  a  point  of 
the  land  following  with  our  eyes  the  boats  speeding  away.  How 
good  again  to  see  fresh  folk  set  to  with  a  strength  which  need 
not  be  saved !  All  the  impressions  we  receive  are  so  new  to 
us,  everything  we  see  so  different  to  that  from  which  we  come. 
Before  us  lie  the  grass-covered  slopes  of  Etah,  which,  fertilized 
by  millions  of  sea-kings,  look  like  hanging  gardens  between  the 
cloughs.  Towards  the  west  the  open  living  sea  unclosed  by 
the  dead  quiet  of  the  Polar- ice ;  the  smell  of  salt  water  and 
pungent  seaweed  which  we  inhale  through  our  nostrils — how 
different  to  the  flat  fresh  water  of  the  east  coast ! 

Ajako  bends  down,  filling  his  hollow  hands  with  fjord 
water,  which  he  raises  to  his  face  to  feel  and  inhale  its  salt 
freshness. 

In  these  drops  he  smells  the  meat  of  walrus,  narwhal,  and 
seals — flesh  of  all  the  blubbery  marine  animals  which  shall  now 
make  our  days  good. 

Beautiful  ocean  !     I  recognize  you,  now  I  am  home  ! 
R  257 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

A  seal  pops  his  head  up  some  distance  out  in  the  fjord,  look- 
ing curiously  after  the  boats,  which  speed  away  without  paying 
any  attention  to  it.  For  a  long  time  we  can  hear  the  firm 
strokes  of  the  oars ;  laughter  mingles  with  shouts  from  those 
who  drive  the  dogs  along  the  steep,  sloping  mountain-sides. 
Then  they  disappear  behind  a  headland  and  everything  around 
us  is  quiet. 

The  fjord  wind,  which  has  blown  freshly  from  the  glacier 
through  the  day,  calms  down  with  the  sinking  of  the  sun  ;  dusk 
throws  its  sharp  shadows  across  the  mountain,  whilst  the  ocean 
gleams  with  a  silvery  sheen  towards  the  western  horizon, 
between  ice-mountains  and  drifting  floes. 

A  sweet  and  rare  feeling  of  peace  settled  on  our  minds ;  for 
the  first  time  for  long  we  can  go  to  rest  with  a  roof  over  our 
heads,  without  needing  to  trouble  about  the  morrow. 


258 


CHAPTER  XIII 
A  RACE  WITH  DEATH 


DR.  WULFF  SUCCUMBS  TO   THE   STRAIN   OF  THE 

JOURNEY 

SEPTEMBER  10th.— Wulff  is  dead.  This  evening  the 
relief  sledges  returned  with  Koch,  Harrigan,  and  Bosun. 
It  was  ordained,  then,  that  after  all  he  should  not 
have  the  strength  to  continue,  but  must  give  up  just  as  he  had 
reached  land  and  was  not  far  from  men.  This  last  death  takes 
me  absolutely  by  surprise.  Well  I  know  that  he  was  ex- 
hausted, but  so  were  we  all ;  that  death  was  approaching  when 
Ajako  and  I  departed  I  did  not  suspect. 

What  a  tragic  death,  just  as  he  had  toiled  through  all 
dangers  and  seemed  safe  at  last.  I  cannot  understand  it — I 
cannot  understand  it ! 

Yet  it  is  true ;  the  man  with  whom  for  a  long  time  I  have 
shared  good  and  evil  I  shall  see  no  more !  Like  his  sledge 
comrade  Hendrik,  he  has  entered  the  great  peace. 

As  soon  as  it  was  reported  to  me  that  people  were  coming 
from  Foulke  Fjord,  I  immediately  made  everything  ready  to 
send  the  boats  out,  whilst  we  commenced  our  preparations  for 
the  reception  we  had  planned  for  them.  As  I  was  informed 
that  some  of  the  people  were  quite  near,  I  went  out  to  meet 
them  to  hear  what  news  they  brought.  I  was  at  once  surprised 
to  see  Koch  amongst  them,  for  we  had  agreed  that  he  and 
Wulff  were  to  be  fetched  by  the  boats  ;  but  as  I  came  up  with 
them  Koch  sat  down  on  a  stone,  pale  and  without  a  word,  and 
the  tears  which  rolled  down  his  cheeks  told  me  everything  I 
needed  to  know. 

259 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

A  catastrophe  had  overtaken  the  expedition ;  Wulff  was 
dead,  fallen  in  the  last  fight  for  life. 

As  soon  as  Koch  and  I  could  collect  ourselves  after  this  sad 
meeting,  he  reported  to  me  all  that  had  happened  since  the 
25th  of  August.  In  the  following  pages  I  give  his  written 
report,  which  contains  all  the  details  : 


KOCiTS   REPORT 

"On  the  25th  of  August  Wulff  and  I  were  for  the  last 
time  with  Knud  Rasmussen  and  Ajako. 

"  The  departure  was  to  Wulff  and  me  a  happy  one,  because 
it  seemed  to  us  that  once  more  our  future  lay  bright  before  us. 
We  believed  that  our  comrades  had  strength  enough  to  reach 
people  and  bring  help,  and  our  experiences  from  Ajako 's  hunt- 
ing proved  that  in  the  vicinity  there  would  be  sufficient  of  hares 
both  for  a  couple  of  days'  of  rest  and  for  a  slow  journey  to- 
wards Etah. 

"  Of  Ajako's  five  hares  we  cooked  in  the  course  of  the  day 
of  the  25th  two  panfuls  ;  some  of  the  more  meaty  pieces,  alto- 
gether rather  more  than  one  hare,  were  put  away  as  provisions 
for  our  comrades'  journey,  and  our  meal  thus  represented  nearly 
a  whole  full-grown  hare  for  each  man.  For  the  first  time  for  a 
long  period  I  felt  perfectly  satiated,  but  Wulff  had,  as  usual, 
left  his  ration  still  unfinished  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
He  gave  me  a  piece,  and,  as  I  protested,  he  declared  that  it  was 
utterly  impossible  for  him  to  eat  any  more. 

'  During  this  meal  he  gave  me  a  detailed  description  of  his 
physical  condition.  For  the  first  time  he  used  the  expression 
'  dying  '  about  himself — an  expression  which  at  the  time  seemed 
to  me  extravagant,  as,  at  the  same  time,  he  opined  that  with  a 
few  days  of  rest  and  reindeer  meat  he  would  once  more  be  ready 
to  continue  the  journey. 

'  He  spoke  about  the  journey  across  the  inland-ice  as  an 
evil  dream  from  which  he  had  now  awakened,  and  he  was 
awaiting  the  return  of  Inukitsoq  and  Bosun  with  impatient 
2G0 


A  RACE  WITH  DEATH 

longing,  as  he  took  it  absolutely  for  granted  that  they  would 
return  with  reindeer  meat. 

"As  I  mentioned  that  perhaps  for  a  while  yet  we  would 
have  to  content  ourselves  with  hare  meat,  he  waived  this  pos- 
sibility aside,  declaring  that  for  a  long  time  he  had  felt  abso- 
lutely disgusted  at  the  sight  of  meat.  But  reindeer  tallow 
would  soon  put  him  on  his  feet  again. 

"  He  talked  a  lot  and  was  very  lively,  the  subject  generally 
being  the  provisions  which  in  future  he  would  use  on  his  jour- 
neys. About  midnight  he  asked  me  to  boil  some  water,  which 
he  wanted  to  drink  hot  before  he  went  to  sleep,  as  his  fingers 
felt  cold  ;  he  then  covered  himself  up  for  the  night  and  I  went 
to  rest. 

"  But  all  these  new  impressions  affected  me  so  that  I  could 
not  sleep,  and  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  walked  up  the 
mountain.  I  walked  slowly  and  aimlessly,  mainly  to  try  what 
strength  I  had  got  left.  Up  the  first  steep  slopes  every  step 
required  a  great  output  of  energy,  and  I  had  to  admit  to  myself 
that  I  was  very  weak.  From  the  mountain  I  saw  a  hare  and  I 
climbed  down  again  to  our  camp  to  fetch  a  gun,  but  the  hare 
was  very  shy,  and  I  quickly  gave  up  the  hunt  and  returned  to 
the  camp  tired  and  hungry.  The  hunters  were  still  absent, 
and  as  Wulff  was  awake  we  decided  to  cook  the  dog-flesh  which 
was  left  over  from  the  previous  day  on  the  glacier. 

"Wulff  merely  took  a  small  bone,  but  he  drank  two  big 
mugs  of  the  hot  soup. 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  26th  I  went  to  sleep 
and  only  awoke  when  Inukitsoq  stood  by  my  side.  The  result 
of  the  two  days'  hunting  had  been  merely  one  hare,  which  was 
eaten  long  ago.  The  hunt  had  failed  entirely  because  of  the 
heavy  fog  which  had  lain  on  the  terrain  which  they  traversed. 
Bosun  had  not  much  strength  left  and  Inukitsoq  also  felt  weary. 
"  Inukitsoq  and  I  now  discussed  various  plans,  but  in  reality 
there  were  only  two  to  choose  between.  We  must  either  break 
up  at  once  and  go  slowly  in  the  direction  of  Marshall  Bay — 
where  we  might  expect  to  meet  people  soon  after  our  comrades 
had  reached  Etah — making  short  daily  marches,  eating  on  the 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

way  according  to  the  results  of  the  hunting ;  or  Inukitsoq  and 
Bosun  must  try  yet  another  reindeer  hunt.  This  last  plan, 
however,  appeared  to  me  too  risky ;  two  more  days  without 
hunting  would  mean  great  exhaustion,  especially  for  the 
hunters,  who,  as  we  did  not  accompany  them,  would  have  to 
carry  the  meat  back  to  us  as  quickly  as  possible.  No,  there  was 
only  one  thing  to  do  :  we  must  go  with  them,  set  off  immedi- 
ately, whilst  we  have  still  some  strength  and  together  try  our 
hunting  fortune. 

"  I  communicated  the  result  of  my  discussion  with  Inukitsoq 
to  Wulff,  but  otherwise  I  did  not  speak  much  to  him,  as  we 
were  busily  engaged  in  making  the  preparations  for  our  journey. 
We  left  everything.  Each  man  brought  merely  a  pair  of  travel- 
ling kamiks  and  a  rug.  Further,  we  brought  a  rifle  with  about 
thirty  rifle  cartridges  and  a  double-barrelled  gun  with  about 
seventy  small-shot  cartridges.  Wulff  left  his  scientific  diaries 
and  collections ;  I  brought  my  cartographical  and  geological 
notes  and  sketches. 

"We  set  off  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  but  already 
twenty  minutes  later  Wulff  wanted  to  give  up  and  return  to  the 
old  camp.  We  did  everything  possible  to  induce  him  to  con- 
tinue ;  to  remain  here  alone  would  be  certain  death  for  him  if 
we  did  not  quickly  find  better  hunting.  So  we  succeeded  in 
making  him  come  along.  Half  an  hour  later  Inukitsoq  shot 
the  first  hare,  which  we  decided  to  eat  raw,  as  we  were  all  very 
hungry.  I  asked  Inukitsoq,  now  and  in  future,  to  undertake 
the  distribution  of  our  rations,  and  he  divided  the  hare  so  that 
Wulff  was  allotted  all  the  meat  whilst  the  rest  of  us  shared  the 
entrails — a  decision  against  which  Wulff,  however,  protested 
emphatically.  Inukitsoq  always  gave  Wulff  more  meat  than 
the  others,  as  in  his  opinion  he  was  the  one  who  needed  most. 
Only  when,  time  after  time,  we  observed  that  Wulff  did  not 
finish  his  ration,  the  portions  became  more  equal.  The  raw, 
fresh  meat  was  eaten  with  great  gusto,  and  Wulff  expressed 
the  opinion  that  perhaps  this  was  healthier  for  him  than  the 
boiled  meat,  of  which  he  was  tired. 

"  In  spite  of  our  bit  of  luck  on  this  hunt,  his  spirits  were 
262 


A  RACE  WITH  DEATH 

very  low.  He  seemed  on  the  point  of  losing  courage  alto- 
gether. The  sudden  change  from  the  rest  on  the  skins — with 
prospects  of  reindeer  meat  and  tallow — to  a  fresh  fight  for  life 
had  affected  him  strongly  mentally.  We  had  left  the  depot  in 
bright  sunshine ;  now  the  cold  of  night  approached  and  the 
fog  again  lay  over  the  land.  The  ground  across  which  we 
walked  was  very  rugged  and  the  depressing  fog,  in  combination 
with  the  constant  scrambling  up  and  down  the  clefts,  preyed 
on  Wulff  "s  mind  so  much  that  I  began  to  fear  he  was  on  the 
point  of  losing  the  will  to  live. 

"  About  midnight  we  made  camp.  Inukitsoq  had  then  got 
another  two  young  hares,  which  we  cooked  immediately. 
Despite  all  appeals,  Wulff  merely  ate  half  his  ration,  giving 
the  other  half  to  Bosun.  '  If  I  eat  another  mouthful  I  shall 
bring  it  all  up,'  he  declared.  But  the  soup  he  drank  with 
great  relish.  Inukitsoq  then  went  out  hunting  again,  and  after 
an  absence  of  two  hours  he  returned  at  midnight  with  yet 
another  hare.  More  cooking  ;  but  Wulff  saved  all  his  meat  for 
the  following  day,  when  he  gave  half  of  it  away. 

'  The  day  had  been  good  for  us  beyond  expectation ;  we 
had  merely  walked  for  a  few  kilometres,  had  had  a  young  hare 
each,  and  plenty  of  sleep  ;  nevertheless  Wulff  complained  con- 
tinually. I  now  began  to  believe  that  his  expression  '  dying ' 
had  not  been  exaggerated  at  all.  But  how  could  we  succeed 
in  rousing  his  wish  to  live  when  he  could  not  eat?  Only  a 
reindeer  could  now  save  him  ;  but  how  could  we  get  him  so  far 
ahead  when  he  himself  had  lost  courage? 

"  The  next  day,  the  27th  of  August,  we  continued  after  a 
rest  which,  for  Wulff  and  me,  had  lasted  thirteen  hours.  We 
had  all  slept  well,  even  Wulff,  but  despite  this  and  to  our 
anxiety,  he  seemed  to  be  weaker  than  on  the  previous  day. 
Although  we  walked  very  slowly  we  had  to  wait  for  him  con- 
tinually all  through  the  day.  He  complained  constantly  about 
his  heart  and  increasing  anaemia.  Time  after  time  he  enquired 
about  health  resorts  in  Denmark,  spoke  about  oatmeal  gruel, 
eggs,  malt  extract,  and  other  fattening  dishes. 

"  It  had  taken  us  three  hours  to  walk  4  kilometres,  and 

263 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

Inukitsoq  had  shot  the  first  young  hare.  Shortly  after  he  and 
Bosun  shot  each  a  hare,  and  at  Wulff's  suggestion  we  immedi- 
ately began  to  cook  them.  Whilst  we  others  collected  fuel  and 
cooked  the  meal  Wulff  slept  incessantly.  This  lasted  two  hours. 

"  When  the  hares  were  cooked  he,  as  usual,  ate  hardly  any- 
thing ;  but  he  drank  some  soup,  which  warmed  and  stimulated 
him.  After  this  meal  we  slept  for  another  couple  of  hours, 
and,  satiated  and  heavy,  we  continued  at  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  After  an  hour's  walk  Inukitsoq  shot  another  hare, 
and  encouraged  by  this  good  fortune,  we  made  camp  as  early 
as  nine  o'clock.  Bosun  went  out  hunting  at  once,  returning 
by  midnight  with  a  hare.  For  the  second  time  that  day  we 
boiled  meat,  but  Wulff  had  as  yet  some  left  from  the  last  meal. 
Again  he  gave  it  away,  for,  as  he  himself  expressed  it,  meat 
sickened  him.  But  how  could  he  regain  his  strength  when  he 
persistently  refused  to  eat  his  rations  in  spite  of  all  our  en- 
treaties?    He  only  became  thinner  every  day. 

"  Another  good  day  of  travelling — short  distances,  much 
rest,  much  meat.  Although  Wulff  complained  about  his  heart 
the  whole  time,  and  about  his  stomach  and  his  terrible  weak- 
ness, he  made  constant  botanical  observations  which  indicated 
that  his  memory  and  his  sense  of  observation  were  as  yet  sur- 
prisingly fresh,  in  sharp  contrast  to  his  exhausted  body.  When 
his  fingers  were  too  stiff  for  him  to  write,  he  dictated  to  me 
that  which  he  wished  to  put  down.  On  the  whole  it  enlivened 
him  considerably  to  speak  about  the  plants  he  found  on  the 
way.  His  botanical  interests  were  as  alive  as  ever  and  his 
keenness  to  add  to  his  results  unchanged.  Now  and  then  the 
hope  seemed  to  awake  that,  in  spite  of  all,  he  would  be  able  to 
manage,  and  this  always  stimulated  him  greatly.  And  why 
not  hope  for  the  best?  In  two  days  we  had  shot  and  eaten 
nine  hares,  we  four  men !  We  saved  nothing,  partly  because 
we  were  yet  too  exhausted  to  carry  anything,  partly  because 
there  was  no  indication  that  game  would  decrease  further  ahead. 
On  the  contrary,  we  were  going  towards  the  real  reindeer 
district ! 

"  But  the  next  day  was  to  be  quite  different  from  the  two 
264 


A  KACE  WITH  DEATH 

previous  days.  All  night  we  had  sleet,  and  during  the  day 
constant  showers.  This  prevented  us  from  seeing  the  hares. 
Furthermore,  we  came  into  quite  a  different  type  of  country, 
with  deep,  stony  eloughs,  poor  in  vegetation.  After  four  hours 
of  strenuous  marching  we  decided  to  leave  the  border-zone  of 
the  inland-ice  and  go  towards  the  sea — towards  the  land  with  a 
more  even  terrain,  more  fertile  ground,  and  richer  in  game. 

"  As  usual  we  started  by  noonday.  In  the  afternoon  Bosun 
shot  a  young  hare  which  we  ate  raw  ;  otherwise  we  saw  no 
game  that  day. 

"  On  the  top  of  every  mountain  slope  we  passed  we  had  to 
wait  for  Wulff,  often  for  a  long  time,  although  it  was  to  the 
interest  of  us  all  to  get  quickly  ahead  to  better  hunting- 
grounds.  Thus  it  was  that  in  twelve  hours  we  had  covered  a 
distance  of  hardly  8  kilometres.  Wulff  had  several  times 
during  the  day  been  quite  unbalanced,  very  irritable,  and  occa- 
sionally not  quite  clear.  During  the  day  he  had  often  declared 
that  it  was  better  to  die — ■'  this  walk  was  worse  than  death.' 

"  Again  we  had  snow-showers  during  the  night.  Several 
times  I  awoke  and  noticed  that  Wulff 's  sleep  was  very  restless, 
and  that  he  was  constantly  chewing  tobacco — a  practice  which, 
in  spite  of  our  warnings,  he  indulged  in  excessively  of  late. 

"  After  twelve  hours  of  rest  we  went  on  again.  None  of 
us  spoke  much,  but  I  noticed  at  once  that  peace  had  settled  on 
Wulff's  thoughts.  I  was  therefore  highly  surprised  when, 
after  three  hours,  he  suddenly  stopped  and  said  : 

"'Now  I  can  go  no  further  because  of  my  heart.  Will 
you  find  a  place  for  me  where  I  can  lie  down? — preferably  near 
to  a  lake  where  I  can  get  something  to  drink,  and  where  you 
will  be  able  to  find  me  if  you  get  game  in  the  immediate  future.' 

"  I  had  the  definite  impression  that  this  was  the  result  of  a 
man's  ripe  and  well-considered  reflection.  It  would  be  of  no 
avail  to  attempt  to  dissuade  him.  We  had  just  sat  down  by  a 
lake  near  a  large  dough  which  would  be  easy  to  recognize,  but 
to  gain  time  and  yet  another  chance  to  save  his  life,  I  pointed 
to  a  lake  some  2  kilometres  further  ahead.  He  agreed  to 
my  choice  and  we  went  together  towards  it ;  once  more  to 

265 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

encourage  him  I  mentioned  how  comparatively  near  we  were  to 
people,  and  how  slight  were  the  difficulties  yet  before  us  com- 
pared with  those  we  had  already  overcome. 

"  '  Yes,'  said  Wulff,  '  to  think  of  giving  up  after  having 
gone  through  so  much  and  surmounted  so  many  difficulties  as 
we  already  have !  No,  rather  make  yet  another  attempt ! 
But,'  he  added,  'for  all  that,  this  is  walking  to  one's  own 
funeral.' 

"  I  at  once  told  the  Eskimos  that  Wulff  had  altered  his 
decision,  so  we  set  our  course  away  from  the  lake  again. 

"  The  snow  had  ceased  to  fall,  there  was  some  wind  from 
the  north,  and  still  some  fog  lay  across  the  land.  The  Eskimos 
parted  company  to  hunt  each  in  his  direction ;  two  hours  later 
Bosun  returned  with  fresh  excrements  of  reindeer,  which  he 
ate.  We  were  standing  by  the  edge  of  a  big  clough,  and  down 
into  this  Bosun  and  Inukitsoq  went,  seeking  reindeer.  As 
Wulff  had  again  remained  some  way  behind,  I  went  up  on  a 
mountain  crag  to  look  out  for  game.  He  had  sat  down,  but  as 
soon  as  he  sighted  me  he  called  up  to  me  :  '  All  right,  you  go 
down  into  the  clough  ;  I  am  coming  soon.' 

"This  we  did.  At  the  bottom  of  the  clough  the  hunters 
had  lost  the  tracks  of  the  reindeer,  so  we  all  sat  down,  chewing 
willow-roots  whilst  we  waited. 

"As  Wulff  came  down  to  us  the  first  thing  he  said  was  : 
'  Well,  dear  comrades,  here  I  will  rest ;  I  think  there  will  be 
shelter  by  the  great  stone  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.' 

"  He  spoke  quite  calmly,  and  no  emotion  was  noticeable. 
As  I  made  another  attempt  to  coax  him  to  continue,  he  replied 
definitely  and  shortly  :  '  No,  I  cannot  continue  ;  there  is  an 
end  to  it  now !  Just  do  me  the  service  to  write  a  few  letters 
for  me,  and  let  the  Eskimos  boil  some  water  so  that  I  can  get 
a  little  warmth  in  my  body  whilst  I  dictate  the  letters.'  Then 
he  rose  and  walked  up  to  the  big  stone  which  he  had  selected  ; 
and  here  he  had  laid  down  when  I  reached  the  spot. 

"  In  vain  I  considered  what  I  could  do  to  help  Wulff,  and 
in  vain  did  I  discuss  the  situation  with  the  Eskimos,  who  were 
gripped  uncannily  by  his  last  decision.  But  we  were  absolutely 
266 


A  RACE  WITH  DEATH 

powerless  when  he  himself  gave  up  and  refused  to  go  on.  To 
remain  in  the  big  clough  void  of  game  would  be  certain  death 
for  us  all. 

"My  own  position  was  not  much  different  from  Wulff's. 
I  also  was  weak  and  my  life  depended  entirely  upon  the  hunt 
of  the  Eskimos ;  I  myself  had  no  strength  to  hunt.  If  both 
Wulff  and  I  remained  in  the  clough  there  would  be  two  instead 
of  one  to  relieve,  in  case  the  luck  of  the  hunt  should  turn  ;  and 
if  this  did  not  soon  happen  the  Eskimos'  strength  also  would 
probably  run  out,  and  help  would  fail.  In  that  case  it  would 
mean  not  merely  catastrophe  for  us  all,  but  the  dearly-bought 
results  of  our  expedition  would  be  lost,  as  nobody  would  be  able 
to  find  us  in  this  clough.  There  was  nothing  for  it ;  we  who  had 
as  yet  not  given  in  must  continue  without  Wulff ;  that  was  the 
only  chance  for  the  four  of  us.  Further,  Wulff  was  quite 
clear  as  to  the  position  and  its  hopeless  seriousness.  Inukitsoq 
and  Bosun  had  hunted  incessantly  since  we  had  arrived  on 
land  ;  they  had  shirked  no  exertion — often  they  had  gone  out 
again  when  we  were  camping,  and  faithfully  had  they  brought 
to  us  whatever  booty  they  caught.  And  so  far  this  had  been 
comparatively  plenty.  But  what  was  the  good  of  it  all  when 
Wulff  would  no  longer  eat  the  only  thing  we  could  procure — 
boiled  hare?  And  now  he  himself  had  preferred  to  remain 
lying  here. 

"  As  soon  as  the  water  was  boiled  and  he  had  drunk  himself 
warm,  he  dictated  a  letter  to  Knud  Rasmussen — a  detailed 
letter  which  set  out  his  Last  Will.  After  that  he  himself  wrote 
a  letter  to  his  parents  and  his  daughter.  Occasionally  I  noticed 
some  emotion,  but  he  was  absolutely  calm. 

"When  he  had  finished  the  letter  he  lit  his  pipe  and  dic- 
tated to  me  a  botanical  survey  of  the  vegetation  in  Inglefield 
Land.  This  was  the  last  thing  he  did.  We  then  lay  speaking 
for  awhile,  and  whilst  we  were  discussing  a  probable  rescue  he 
said  :  '  I  suppose  if  I  remain  perfectly  quiet  I  can  live  for  an- 
other couple  of  days,  and  if  during  the  next  few  days  you  can 
shoot  a  reindeer  I  shall,  of  course,  be  glad  of  relief.  But  it  is 
no  earthly  good  coming  back  with  hare-bones.     If  several  days 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

should  elapse  and  you  then  meet  with  people,  it  is  probable 
that  only  oatmeal  gruel  and  port  wine  can  save  me.' 

4i  He  then  enquired  how  long  I  myself  thought  I  could  last. 
I  replied  that  without  hunting  I  supposed  I  had  the  strength  to 
walk  for  yet  another  day,  whilst  the  Eskimos  probably  could 
keep  up  for  a  couple  of  days. 

"  By  now  we  had  remained  with  Wulff  for  a  good  couple  of 
hours,  and  as  the  Eskimos  were  impatient  to  continue  the  in- 
terrupted hunting  I  made  ready  to  break  up.  Although  the 
situation  in  itself  was  a  sad  one,  I  did  not  at  the  moment  feel 
very  touched  at  the  departure  :  I  myself  was  too  weak,  and  I 
had  a  feeling  of  walking  to  meet  my  own  death. 

' '  Wulff  remained  quiet  as  we  went ;  his  last  words  to  us 
were  :  '  Well,  I  will  finally  wish  for  you  personally  that  you 
may  reach  your  goal.  When  you  meet  difficulties,  remember 
that  now  it  is  you  that  must  save  our  results.  May  good  fortune 
follow  you.     And  now  farewell ! ' 

"  Again  the  fog  had  rolled  up,  and  it  all  appeared  to  me  so 
enormously  depressing,  as  we  had  great  difficulty  in  finding  our 
way.  Three  hours  later  the  weather  cleared  up  somewhat,  and 
we  obtained  a  view  towards  the  coast.  The  land  inshore  was  al- 
most bare  of  snow,  and  we  set  our  course  towards  it.  About  mid- 
night we  went  to  rest,  wet  and  cold  after  wading  across  a  river. 
In  my  diary  I  wrote  that  on  the  following  day  I  should  prob- 
ably be  able  to  reach  Cape  Scott  without  food,  but  that  would 
be  the  finish  of  me ;  but  here  at  least  my  diary  would  have  a 
chance  of  being  found. 

'  It  was  then  too  cold  to  sleep,  and  not  until  the  morning 
of  the  next  day  were  we  able  to  get  a  couple  of  hours.  By  then 
there  was  clear  sunshine  and  for  the  first  time  we  had  a  view 
across  the  land.  We  found  that  we  were  by  the  middle  one  of 
the  three  little  fjords  which  run  inland  between  Cape  Scott  and 
Cape  Agassiz.  Cape  Scott,  where  my  followers  during  the 
spring  had  shot  three  hares  and  noticed  tracks  of  reindeer,  was 
also  plainly  visible.  So  we  decided  at  once  to  set  our  course 
right  for  Cape  Scott.  I  was  now  very  weak  ;  all  the  various 
sensations  of  hunger  I  had  experienced  on  the  inland-ice 
268 


A  RACE  WITH  DEATH 

returned  in  an  aggravated  form.  In  addition  to  great  weariness 
I  felt  eonsiderable  dizziness,  and  a  frequent  blackness  before 
the  eyes. 

"  About  three  o'clock  we  gathered  a  panful  of  fungi  and 
boiled  them  ;  that  gave  us  new  strength  to  continue. 

"  Evening  came  and  we  had  still  seen  no  game.  Suddenly 
we  spied  a  brood  of  long-tailed  ducklings  swimming  on  a  lake. 
The  Eskimos  shot  six,  which  we  cooked,  and  after  that  we 
continued,  reaching  Cape  Scott  just  before  midnight. 

"  Here  Inukitsoq  and  Bosun  shot  six  hares,  and  for  the  first 
time  we  had  an  opportunity  to  consider  whether  we  could 
rescue  Wulft".  The  position  was  this  :  We  could  start  from 
Cape  Scott  two  days  after  we  had  left  him  and  would  then  be 
able  to  reach  him  at  the  earliest  twenty-four  hours  later.  Wulff 
woidd  then  have  been  without  food  for  four  days,  and  we  could 
offer  him  only  hare  meat,  which  he  had  definitely  said  would 
be  useless.  Furthermore,  in  order  to  rescue  him  we  would 
have  to  have  enough  of  food  for  the  journey  there  and  back. 
If  before  the  start  we  ourselves  were  to  have  a  meal  which 
woidd  be  of  any  help  in  our  exhausted  condition,  we  should 
only  have  three  hares  left  for  the  rescue,  and  as  this  was  hope- 
less we  had  to  give  up  the  idea.  Only  a  reindeer  to-day  or  at 
the  latest  to-morrow  woidd  be  able  to  save  him.  But,  unfor- 
tunately, this  stroke  of  luck  only  arrived  when  every  hope  of 
finding  Wolff  alive  had  vanished. 

"During  the  following  three  days  we  got  so  many  hares 
that  we  had  sufficient  daily  provision,  but  we  never  had  such  a 
surplus  as  to  make  rescue  possible. 

"  On  the  evening  of  the  2nd  of  September  Inukitsoq  and 
Bosun  shot  two  reindeer,  but  at  the  same  time  a  thick  fog 
settled  on  the  land.  We  then  definitely  abandoned  any 
thought  of  returning  to  Wulff,  for  not  until  ten  days  after  his 
last  meal  could  we  be  with  him  again,  and  it  was  not  probable 
that  in  his  exhausted  condition  he  would  have  been  able  to  resist 
the  night  frost  and  hunger  for  so  long. 

"  There  was  now  no  other  alternative  but  to  go  down  to 
Etah,  and  as  quickly  as  possible  report  to  the  leader  of  the 

2G9 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

expedition  Wulff's  death,  and  inform  him  of  the  collections 
which  still  remained  by  the  point  of  descent.  But  as  we  were 
still  very  weary  and  I  myself  very  weak,  we  rested  for  two  days 
by  the  shot  reindeer. 

"  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  September  we  heard 
shots  in  our  immediate  vicinity — they  came  from  one  of  the 
Eskimos  Knud  Rasmussen  had  sent  to  our  relief ;  he  had  shot 
a  reindeer  close  to  us.  We  got  into  immediate  communication 
with  him.  The  day  after  we  met  another  man,  and  on  the  6th 
we  set  out  and  reached  at  length  the  sledges  and  the  depot  of 
provisions  sent  from  Etah,  which  proved  to  be  not  far  from  our 
reindeer  camp.  We  reached  it  on  the  7th  of  September,  and 
in  the  evening  of  the  10th  we  were  in  Etah,  where  immediately 
I  reported  in  detail  to  the  leader  of  the  expedition." 


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CHAPTER  XIV 
A  RUNIC  MEMORIAL 

THE  life  of  Thorild  Wulff  was  so  motley  and  adventurous 
that  he  himself  was  not  always  quite  clear  as  to  the 
sequence  of  the  incidents  in  which  he  had  such  an  astonish- 
ing knack  of  finding  himself  playing  a  part  wherever  he  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  world.  Often  during  our  journey  I  asked 
him  to  give  me  a  complete  survey  of  his  life's  work  and  experi- 
ence, but  he  always  shook  his  head  and  said  smilingly  that  he 
was  only  able  to  relate  by  sections  the  story  of  the  forty  years 
of  his  life  if  he  had  to  live  them  over  again  in  memory.  A 
connected  survey  he  would  only  be  able  to  give  me  when  he  got 
home  and  had  time  to  look  up  his  diaries  and  notes. 

No  man  possessed  to  the  same  degree  that  great  restlessness 
which  created  action ;  but,  unfortunately  for  himself  and  for 
us,  he  lacked  the  ability  of  finding  that  peace  of  mind  which 
expresses  itself  in  steady  work  with  books  and  reports.  Few 
men  possessed  such  all-embracing  knowledge  and  such  excellent 
training  in  readiness  for  the  use  of  a  supreme  brain  ;  never  have 
I  met  a  man  who  so  literally  and  personally  had  taken  possession 
of  the  earth,  and  therefore  we  his  friends,  who  knew  the 
amount  of  matter  which  perished  with  him,  mourn  the  fact 
that  he  has  left  no  great  production  behind  him.  But  he 
himself  probably  found  that  he  did  not  need  it,  and  a  glance  at 
the  different  data  of  his  life  fully  substantiates  the  view  that  he 
had  no  need  to  erect  a  verbal  memorial  for  himself. 

Thorild  Wulff  was  born  in  Gothenburg  on  the  1st  of  April, 
1877,  matriculated  in  1894,  and  studied  botany  in  Lund.  In 
1899  he  made  his  first  great  journey  as  a  member  of  a  Swedo- 
Russian  Expedition  for  the  measurement  of  degrees,  during 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

which  he  collected  material  for  the  treatise  which  in  1909  pro- 
cured for  him  his  Doctor's  degree  :  "  Botanische  Beobaehtun- 
gen  aus  Spitzbergen."  After  this  Thorild  Wulff's  life  became 
so  full  of  events  that  I  dare  not  entirely  trust  to  my  memory  of 
his  own  statements.  Dr.  Birger  Selim,  of  Stockholm,  has 
kindly  put  his  excellent  necrology  from  ' '  Ymer ' '  at  my  dis- 
posal, and  from  this  the  following  matter  is  extracted  : 

For  a  number  of  years  Wulff  spent  his  life  travelling  in  the 
East  and  in  the  tropics.  Before  he  left  Europe,  however,  he 
had,  travelling  in  Germany,  France,  and  England,  keenly 
studied  every  branch  of  life  and  knowledge. 

In  1902-3  we  find  him  on  a  botanical  exploration  in  India. 
On  this  journey  he  devoted  himself  not  merely  to  botany,  he 
also  got  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Indian  architecture,  and  a 
small  brochure  he  wrote  on  this  subject  has  often  been  alluded 
to  as  a  striking  proof  of  the  quick  receptiveness  of  his  brain. 

Later  on  he  settled  down  in  Stockholm,  and  from  1906  to 
1909  he  was  attached  to  the  Central  Institution  for  Experi- 
mental Agriculture.  During  this  period,  which  represents  an 
intermezzo  in  Wulff's  roaming  life,  he  had  a  good  opportunity 
to  study  scientific  problems,  and,  as  the  editor  of  the  periodical 
Tradg&rden,  he  showed  considerable  ability  in  making  his  scien- 
tific knowledge  generally  accessible  through  well-written  and 
instructive  popular  articles. 

In  1909  he  left  the  Institute  of  Experimental  Agriculture 
to  become  lecturer  in  botany  at  Stockholm's  Hogskola. 

In  1911  he  journeyed  to  Iceland.  This  was  the  second  time 
Wulff  had  visited  the  island  of  the  Sagas,  and  between  his  two 
visits  he  had  repeatedly  travelled  in  Lapland.  On  these  shorter 
journeys  he  rested  and  made  his  plans  for  the  longer  ones. 
Whilst  he  loved  to  appear  suddenly  like  a  comet  in  the  big 
towns,  for  awhile  "  blowing  a  storm  over  the  duck-pond,"  this 
man  of  fete  and  work  constantly  required  air  under  his  wings  ; 
he  was  ever  ready  for  migration  as  soon  as  the  autumnal  mood 
fell  on  his  mind. 

In  July,  1912,  he  was  set  a  task  which  entirely  engrossed 
him.  A  very  large  capital  was  put  privately  at  his  disposal  to 
272 


A  RUNIC  MEMORIAL 

enable  him  to  travel  to  China,  in  order  to  procure  collections 
for  the  Rohsska  Kunstslojdniuseum  in  Gothenburg.  But  pre- 
vious to  this  he  set  out  on  a  journey  of  study  throughout 
Europe,  in  order  to  make  himself  conversant  with  the  collec- 
tions of  Chinese  art  in  the  important  museums.  In  the  autumn 
he  travelled  to  Siberia,  visited  the  battle-grounds  of  Mukden, 
and  in  September  settled  down  in  Peking,  wherefrom  he  made 
excursions  into  Mongolia  and  China. 

On  the  same  journey  he  received  from  the  Ethnographical 
Section  of  the  Riksmuseum  in  Stockholm  a  considerable  sum  of 
money,  with  the  proposal  that  he  should  also  collect  for  this 
museum  anything  of  interest.  In  the  yearly  report  of  the 
Ethnographical  Museum  for  1916  Wulff's  collection  is  esti- 
mated to  number  956  articles.  This  collection  gives  a  com- 
plete picture  of  life  in  China,  not  merely  before  the  revolution, 
but  also  from  the  oldest  time. 

Wulff's  sojourn  in  China  was  rich  in  adventures  ;  he  himself 
most  frequently  mentioned  a  relief  expedition  in  which  he  took 
part  in  June,  1913,  to  save  a  friend,  the  Scottish  telegraphist 
Mr.  Grant,  who  had  been  kidnapped  and  carried  away  by 
Mongolian  robbers.  The  expedition  reached  the  camp  of  the 
robbers,  but  simultaneously  as  they  were  informed  that  their 
friend  had  been  murdered  long  ago,  they  themselves  were 
captured  and  were  to  be  executed.  After  two  days  of  waiting 
the  chief  of  the  tribe  was  accidentally  informed  that  a  son  of 
Director  Henningsen  from  Store  Nordiske  was  amongst  the 
condemned.  As  soon  as  the  chief  heard  this,  the  sentence  of 
death  was  annulled,  as  he  had  once  received  great  hospitality  at 
one  of  the  stations  of  Det  Store  Nordiske  Telegrafselskab.  The 
white  men  were  then  led  away  under  guard,  whilst  as  a  com- 
pensation the  Chinese  followers  were  beheaded. 

In  1914  Wulff  went  from  China  to  Japan,  where  he  did  not 
content  himself  merely  with  gaining  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  life  and  customs  of  the  modern  Japanese,  but  also  went  to 
the  island  Yesso  to  study  the  Aino  people,  now  becoming 
extinct.  He  succeeded  here  in  collecting  rich  material,  in  the 
form  of  museum  objects,  pictures,  and  written  notes ;  unfor- 
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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

tunately  the  latter  were  never  developed  into  a  book.  Wulff 
is  surely  the  last  explorer  to  see  and  study  the  Aino  people  at  a 
time  when  results  were  yet  to  be  obtained  ;  he  himself  used  to 
emphasize  that  the  collector  who  followed  him  would  have  to 
leave  without  achieving  anything. 

Subsequently  he  journeyed  via  Sumatra  to  Java,  where  he 
was  also  making  collections,  especially  on  the  two  little  islands 
Bali  and  Lombock,  where  he  found  himself  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  World  War,  and  from  which  he  commenced  his  return 
journey  in  the  beginning  of  October  on  board  the  Swedish 
steamer  Nipon. 

In  the  spring  of  1916  he  put  his  name  down  as  a  member  of 
the  second  Thule  Expedition  to  North  Greenland,  and  on  this 
expedition  he  made  the  greatest  sacrifice  to  science  which  a 
man  can  make. 

The  letter  Wulff  sent  me  through  Koch  was  a  detailed  Last 
Will — concerning  partly  his  botanical  results,  partly  his  house 
and  property  in  Stockholm. 

It  begins  thus  : 

"  The  constant  hunger  and  toil  of  the  summer  and  the 
almost  absolute  lack  of  food  of  the  last  two  days  have  caused 
such  a  decrease  in  my  physical  strength  that  even  by  summon- 
ing all  my  will-power  I  am  unable  to  follow  Koch  and  the 
Eskimos  further.  As  their  salvation  depends  upon  the  pos- 
sibility of  reaching  better  hunting-ground  as  speedily  as 
possible,  it  will  merely  be  a  weight  on  the  party  if  I  drag  on 
further.  With  perfect  peace  of  mind  I  therefore  say  Good- 
bye, thanking  you  all  for  good  comradeship  on  the  expedition, 
and  hoping  that  you  will  be  able  to  save  yourselves  and  our 
results." 

Deeply  moved,  I  read  these  resigned  words  of  farewell, 
which  in  their  simplicity  had  over  them  the  great  final  solem- 
nity. Truly  they  expressed  a  man's  open  and  calm  glance  at 
death.  To  the  last  he  had  been  engaged  in  getting  the  most 
possible  out  of  his  work.  A  holy  fire  had  kept  fresh  and 
274 


A  RUNIC  MEMORIAL 

receptive  to  impressions  the  tottering  and  exhausted  wanderer's 
sense  of  observation.  With  fingers  stiff  with  cold  he  had  noted 
down  up  to  the  very  last  day  everything  of  botanical  interest, 
and  when  he  himself  could  write  no  more  he  dictated  before 
Koch's  departure  a  short  resume  of  the  vegetation  in  the  district 
which  witnessed  his  last  hopeless  fight  for  life. 

It  is  written  as  an  addition  to  his  diary  notes  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  All  the  plant  localities  here  mentioned  lie  on  N.  Lat.  79° 
between  Cape  Agassiz  and  15  to  20  kilometres  to  the  west  of  it. 
Vegetation  has  been  unusually  rich  and  vigorous,  quite  a  dif- 
ferent and  luxurious  type  to  the  one  of  the  north  coast  of 
Greenland.  Several  of  the  varieties  have  surely  their  northern 
border  here.  I  have  not  seen  sign  of  them  farther  north.  A 
careful  examination  of  the  vegetation  between  Cape  Agassiz 
and  Etah  from  July  to  the  first  part  of  August  is  sure  to  give 
very  good  botanical  results.  In  my  exhausted  condition  I  can 
do  nothing  further." 


'-- 


There  is  no  call  for  commentary.  In  the  manner  in  which 
Wulff  departed  from  life  he  himself  wrote  his  simple  and  brief 
epitaph,  which,  together  with  his  excellent  botanical  work,  will 
preserve  his  name  as  long  as  an  interest  in  the  solution  of 
scientific  problems  exists.  In  deep  sorrow  we  will  lower  the 
flag  for  this  Swedish  explorer  who  found  his  death  on  the  white 
field  of  honour,  working  until  he  fell. 

HAKRIGAN'S   REPORT 

The  following  report  which  Harrigan  gave  after  his  arrival 
at  Etah,  and  which  I  wrote  down  immediately  from  his  dicta- 
tion, is  given  as  a  supplement  to  Koch's  report : 

"  On  the  day  when  Wulff  gave  up  and  sought  a  place  where 
he  could  lie  down  to  die,  we  were  all  exhausted  and  weary.  We 
were  very  thin  and  suffered  from  anaemia.  This  was  plainly 
visible  from  our  veins,  which  almost  disappeared,  and  made 
itself  felt  by  sensations  of  giddiness  ;  further,  we  had  difficulty 
in  keeping  warm,  especially  our  hands  and  feet. 

275 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

"If  we  had  been  on  the  inland-ice  or  open  ice,  where 
we  should  have  had  a  sledge,  we  would  have  tried  to  pull  Wulff 
along,  as  we  did  occasionally  during  the  last  days  on  the  inland- 
ice.  But  on  this  snow-bare  land  of  doughs  it  would  be  a  matter 
either  of  carrying  him — and  none  of  us  had  the  strength  for 
this — or  remaining  with  him ;  but  as  we  should  have  to  go  a 
long  distance  before  there  was  any  game,  this  also  proved  im- 
possible ;  it  would  be  to  seek  death  for  ourselves  without  being 
able  to  help  our  dying  comrade. 

"  And  Wulff  would  eat  nothing,  at  any  rate  no  hare  meat ; 
of  our  last  bag  he  tasted  merely  a  mouthful  of  hare  liver, 
although  he  might  have  eaten  meat  to  repletion.  We  could 
do  nothing  for  him. 

"I  believe  he  was  ill,  for  during  the  last  few  nights  he 
moaned  often  during  his  sleep. 

"We  had  no  alternative  but  to  leave  him  behind,  as  he 
himself  demanded.  If  we  found  reindeer  in  a  place  from  which 
we  could  return  whilst  he  was  yet  alive,  we  might  still  be  able 
to  save  him.     But  this  was  the  only  possibility. 

"  We  plucked  grass  and  heather  and  made  as  soft  and 
sheltered  a  bed  for  him  as  we  could,  and  here  he  lay  down  when 
it  was  ready. 

"  As  we  arose  to  continue  our  journey  he  nodded  a  smiling 
farewell.  And  this  smile  from  the  poor  man  who  had  lain 
down  to  die  was  my  last  impression  of  Wulff.  I  believe  that 
he  would  very  quickly  sleep  into  death." 

Inukitsoq,  or  Harrigan  as  we  called  him,  had  surely  been 
the  one  who,  by  his  hunting,  up  to  the  very  last  did  the  most  to 
keep  Wulff  alive.  It  is  of  interest  to  see  the  characteristics  of 
this  man  which  Wulff  himself  gives  on  a  leaf  of  his  diary,  which 
has  no  connection  with  the  general  notes  from  day  to  day  : 

"  Harrigan,  a  quiet,  silent  man,  conscious  of  his  own 
strength,  endurance,  and  ability  to  carry  on  in  all  weathers, 
but  without  boasting.  A  lithe,  beautiful,  muscular  body  which 
works  with  all  the  light  elegant  harmony  of  the  sportsman  and 
the  savage.  A  decidedly  humorous  mind  which  helps  him 
276 


A  RUNIC  MEMORIAL 

through  all  difficult  and  annoying  situations.  A  good  father 
for  his  team  of  dogs,  and  a  perfect  artist  with  regard  to  driving 
and  the  finding  of  a  way  through  the  worst  of  pressure-ice,  a 
pathfinder  in  the  wilderness  with  the  spontaneous  compass-like 
sense  of  locality  of  the  savage,  and  an  exceedingly  fine  seal- 
hunter  on  the  ice  with  his  stalking-sail.  In  a  word  :  a  fine  and 
well-trained  example  of  his  tribe,  and  this  means  a  good  deal 
among  the  Polar  Eskimos,  who  are  all,  without  exception, 
hardened,  quick-witted  hunters  without  a  flaw." 

When  a  catastrophe  like  Dr.  Wulff's  death  occurs,  it  is 
natural  that  the  responsible  man  puts  to  himself  the  question 
whether  he  could  have  planned  otherwise.  But  even  now,  so 
long  after,  I  cannot  see  but  that  what  we  did  was  the  only 
right  thing.  Koch  has  in  his  reports  explained  his  dispositions 
during  the  walk  towards  the  relief  sledges,  a  report  which  grips 
one  by  its  sober  brevity.  It  is  therefore  only  natural  that  I 
should  add  a  few  words  to  that  which  has  already  been  said 
about  Ajako 's  and  my  journey  for  relief.  I  have  told  in  what 
condition  we  reached  land,  and  how  necessary  it  was  that  we 
should  get  in  touch  with  people  as  soon  as  possible.  I  chose  for 
myself  and  Ajako  the  most  risky  and  difficult  task — with  the 
shortest  possible  rest  to  walk  the  longest  distance.  And  whilst 
the  others  merely  advanced  as  slowly  as  their  condition  required, 
constantly  seeking  the  districts  which  provided  the  best  hunt- 
ing, it  was  our  task  to  force  our  way  ahead  irrespective  of  the 
question  of  the  game. 

I  had  pointed  out  to  Wulff  and  Koch  that  a  slow  journey 
with  short  marches  would  furnish  them  with  the  necessary 
game.  This  came  true  with  the  exception  of  that  one  day  when 
Wulff  gave  up. 

A  single  comparison  will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the 
different  travelling  conditions  offered  to  the  two  parties  :  Ajako 
and  I  walked  from  Cape  Agassiz  to  the  great  ice-mountain 
lake,  where  the  relief  sledges  were  to  be  met,  in  a  little  more 
than  two  nights  and  days,  and  on  all  this  stretch  we  had  only 
one  hare.     The  others  took  about  twelve  days  to  reach  the 

277 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

same  point,  and  killed  twenty-four  hares,  six  ducklings,  and 
two  reindeer. 

On  the  whole  of  the  expedition  Dr.  Wulff  had  shown  him- 
self to  be  a  quick  and  enduring  walker.  On  the  inland-ice  he 
managed  excellently  in  spite  of  the  very  short  rations  of  pem- 
mican  and  meat.  Not  until  we  had  to  live  entirely  on  dog-flesh 
did  he  collapse.  Notwithstanding  this,  I  am  convinced  that 
he  would  have  managed  after  all  had  not  the  exhaustion  and 
weakness  consequent  on  the  passage  across  the  many  glacier 
rivers  used  up  his  last  energy.  When  anaemia  and  pains  in  the 
heart  set  in  he  collapsed.  Not  until  then  did  he  lie  down  to 
meet  the  death  which  he  had  no  longer  the  strength  to  evade. 

It  is  my  conviction  that  Wulff 's  death  was  easy,  for  he  was 
in  that  state  of  physical  exhaustion  when  the  change  from  life 
to  death  is  not  very  great,  and  in  which  death  comes  as  a  sleep 
which  one  feels  that  one  needs  more  than  anything  else  and 
which  almost  unnoticeably  carries  one  out  of  life.  He  had 
his  hardest  days  together  with  us  during  the  period  which  he 
describes  in  his  diary,  and  which  will  here  be  reproduced. 

Our  physical  energy  was  so  low  after  the  last  few  months 
of  under-nourishment,  that  we  were  not  far  from  that  state  in 
which,  after  all,  everything  appears  quite  indifferent  to  one. 
The  will  also  claims  some  material  nourishment,  even  though 
for  a  period  one  may  force  one's  constitution  to  perform 
miracles,  simply  because  one  will  and  must.  As  long  as  one 
is  capable  of  this,  one  is  quite  indifferent  to  what  he  eats  so  long 
as  he  feels  that  he  is  capable  of  getting  up  again  after  the 
short  rests. 

One  must  shut  one's  brain  to  arguments  of  any  kind  and 
try  to  force  one's  thoughts  to  refrain  from  playing  with  intoler- 
able food  phantasies ;  one  must  look  ahead  in  such  a  way  that 
one  does  not  even  accept  the  hopelessness  of  the  moment. 
Wulff  not  only  gave  in  to  his  food  phantasies,  he  even  discussed 
in  his  diary  his  state  of  exhaustion,  and  regarded  the  last  walks 
towards  people  as  worse  than  death.  Thought  of  this  kind  can 
merely  lead  to  the  breaking  of  the  will  and  a  weak  surrender. 

One  then  genuinely  feels  that  there  is  onlv  one  desirable 
278 


A  RUNIC  MEMORIAL 

thing,  and  that  is  to  be  permitted  to  give  up  the  fight  and  die 
in  peace.  Every  time  one  gets  up  to  go  on,  all  the  agonies  are 
intensified,  and  one  feels  that  relief  could  only  come  if  one 
were  allowed  to  lie  down  and  without  a  thought  for  the  sur- 
roundings seek  peace  in  a  long,  long  sleep.  Life  amongst 
other  people  appears  so  distant,  so  unobtainable,  that  for  the 
moment  it  seems  a  matter  of  indifference  ;  death  has  lost  its 
sting,  and  one  accepts  it  as  a  welcome  necessity.  Hunger  is 
felt  no  longer ;  it  belongs  to  the  time  when  one  was  well  and 
had  strength  to  resist  it ;  one  merely  feels  a  weakness  so  over- 
whelming that  peace  cannot  come  until  at  length  one  lies  down 
for  the  last  long  sleep. 

Dr.  Wulff  was  in  this  state  when,  after  an  incomplete  rest, 
he  had  to  take  up  anew  the  fight  for  life  with  all  the  physical 
suffering  which  paralyzed  his  will,  and  through  his  last  diary 
notes  we  obtain  a  gripping  picture  of  the  fight  which  he  fought 
until  at  last  death  proved  the  stronger. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   DR.   WULFFS   LAST   DIARY 

"August  24th. — We  start  from  Camp  18  at  9.15  a.m. 
Land  five  kilometres  distant  near  the  goal.  Big  Cryokonite 
holes.  Descent  rather  steep.  The  last  dog  is  being  killed. 
Several  glacier  torrents  are  crossed.  Dead  tired,  half  uncon- 
scious. Reach  the  gneiss  cliffs  7.30  p.m.  after  exactly  three 
weeks'  march,  four  hundred  kilometres  across  the  inland-ice. 
Tracks  of  hare  and  reindeer. 


"  Camp  19. — The  Edge  of  the  Inland-Ice.     8  p.m. 

"Calm.  Fog.  Drizzle.  We  lie  down  to  sleep  on  moun- 
tain shelves.  Cold,  tent  cannot  be  pitched.  The  three  Eskimos 
immediately  go  hunting,  indefatigable.  All  through  the  night 
veritable  cannon-shot  from  the  edge  of  the  ice  which  runs 
down  into  a  small  lake.  L.  leucopterus.  Veget.  on  the 
mountain  terrace  autumnal.  5°  during  the  night,  hoar-frost. 
SaJLv  arctica  quite  light  yellow,  and  in  fruct.     Luz.  confusa, 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

Sax.  oppositifol.,  Cernua  nivalis,  tricuspidata,  the  latter  vigor- 
ous, still  in  bloom,  blood-red,  Papaver,  Draba. 

"August  25th. — Ajako  returns  6  a.m.  with  five  hares. 
Boiled  hare  and  delicious  liver,  heart,  meat  and  strong  soup, 
but  I  am  incredibly  sick  of  the  meat  diet  and  all  the  boiled  meat 
ever  since  a  year  ago.  Thinking  merely  of  peas,  salt  pork,  pan- 
cake, jam,  bread,  fruit,  brandy,  coffee,  chocolate.  Nevertheless 
I  eat  as  much  as  I  can  to  regain  the  wish  to  live  and  conquer  my 
weakness.  New  ice  formed  last  night  on  the  lake.  Feel  con- 
tinually reduced  in  strength.  Cassiope,  StelJ.  Jongipes.  Aspid. 
fragrans. 

"  Harrigan  got  another  two  hares,  all  three  young  with 
grey  heads — one  was  eaten  raw,  two  were  boiled.  Potentilla 
nivea,  rubricaulis,  emarginata,  Dryas,  broad-leaved,  smooth, 
octopetala-like,  typical  integrifolia  and  var.  canescens.  Very 
commonly  Myrtillus  uliginosa,  scattered  extensive  mats,  Salix 
arctica,  with  broadly  oval  and  narrow  lance-shaped  leaves,  highly 
variable,  Pedicularis  hirsuta. 

"  Knud  and  Ajako  started  out  on  foot  this  evening  at 
6  o'clock  for  Etah  (approx.  200  km.),  the  straight  road  across 
land  to  send  us  relief  sledges  and  provisions. 

"Myrtillus  uliginosa,  Pyrola  uniflora,  Wahlbergella  (large, 
not  triflor.). 

"  Drink  warm  water  for  supper. 

"August  26th. — Koch  during  the  night  went  for  a  few 
hours'  walk  inland.  Stalked  a  hare  in  vain.  I  am  sleepless, 
tortured  by  a  persistent  carbuncle  on  the  ham.  Clear  cold 
night.  Eat  in  the  morning  the  last  remnants  of  the  last  dog. 
Harrigan  and  Bosun  return  2  p.m.  after  nearly  two  days'  un- 
successful hunt.  Got  a  hare  which  they  ate  row.  No  reindeer. 
We  must  break  up  at  once  and  go  towards  Marshall  Bay. 

"Thrown  away  theodolite,  two  cameras,  bandages,  clothes, 
everything  which  we  can  yet  do  without.  Remains  now  the 
most  serious  flight  for  life.  To  think  of  collecting  plants  now 
is  impossible.  If  we  can  manage  to  get  off  with  our  lives  it  is 
great.  We  four  men  have  absolutely  nothing  edible  and  ob- 
viously bad  prospects  of  hunting.  All  weak  but  in  good  spirits. 
280 


A  RUNIC  MEMORIAL 

This  helplessness,  when  strength  leaves  one,  is  hideous.  I  am 
only  a  skeleton  now  and  shiver  with  eold.  5.80  i>.ni.  we  make 
clear  to  continue  westward.  Everything  is  left  behind.  I  have 
only  my  reindeer-skin  coat  and  a  pair  of  extra  kaniiks.  Plants 
and  films  and  notebooks  remain  by  the  edge  of  the  inland-ice, 
under  a  stone  above  the  terrace  where  we  slept  the  last  two 
days.  We  do  not  even  carry  tent  or  Primus,  merely  guns,  as 
we  are  dead-tired.  This  will  be  a  march  towards  death  if  a 
miracle  docs  not  happen.     Gun  and  cartridges  are  brought. 

"  Harrigan  shot  a  small  hare  7  cm.  long.  Lesquerella, 
Hesperis,  Cerast.  alp.,  Kobresia,  C.  nard.,  Erioph.  polyst. 

"  Poa  cenisia.  Trisetum,  Hierochloa,  Luzula  nivalis,  Sax. 
opposit.     Floicer.     Alsinc  verna,  Silene  acaulis. 

"  Knud  went  25/8  in  the  evening,  can  surely  reach  Etah  in 
6  or  7  days,  and  then  the  relief  sledges  could  reach  us  by  the 
edge  of  the  inland-ice  about  the  4th  of  Sept.  and  we  be  in  Etah 
7/8  Sept.,  saved  from  this  struggle  with  death  of  starvation 
which  has  lasted  since  the  middle  of  May.  Hideous  memories 
which  for  ever  put  a  gloomy  colour  on  life.  When  deadly 
indifference  to  life  appears  and  weakness  gets  the  upper  hand 
even  food  phantasies  disappear,  and  the  thoughts  occupy  them- 
selves with  those  at  home  and  with  the  strange  sum  total  of  life. 

"  Rather  good  sleep  in  spite  of  boil.  Start  noon.  Grey 
cold  fog.  Along  the  edge  of  the  inland-ice.  Got  before 
3  p.m.  3  hares,  cooked.  Continue  towards  west  7  p.m.  Block- 
terrain,  sluggardly  landscape.  Think  mostly  of  a  visit  to  some 
health  resort  for  my  poor  worn-out  gaunt  body  and  suffer- 
ing soul. 

"  Drag  along  for  2  hours  in  eold  fog,  heavy,  stony,  cliff- 
terrain  until  9  p.m.  Got  in  the  evening  another  grey-headed 
young  hare.  Minus  1'4°.  Camp  for  the  night  on  the  moss 
between  stone-blacks  near  a  small  border-lake  by  the  inland- 
ice  which  we  follow.  Were  I  only  at  a  Sanatorium.  This  is 
worse  than  death. 

"  Day's  march  approx.  6  km.,  to-day  5  km. 

"  August  27th. — As  we  brought  nothing  but  2  guns,  3  rugs, 

281 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

my  coat,  5  boxes  of  matches  and  a  pan,  our  rig-out  for  2-3 
weeks'  autumn  campaign  is  very  simple  and  '  Eskimo.'  To 
sleep  11  p.m.  on  the  mossy  slope.  Fog  sets  in,  minus  0  5°  and 
a  little  snow.  The  Eskimos — those  energetic  savages — again 
after  hare — return. 

"  4  p.m. — Entrails  eaten  as  usual  raw,  the  blood  goes  into 
the  soup,  then  a  fresh  cooking  of  hare.  Glorious,  four  hares 
in  one  day  for  four  men — that  means  life  for  us.  The  soup  is 
drunk  by  turns  from  the  pan  as  we  have  left  our  cups.  My 
strength  which  was  almost  exhausted  returns  and  I  hope  to 
conquer  the  dizzy  feeling  of  head  and  heart,  but  last  four  days 
I  have  been  nearer  death  than  life.  Can  again  permit  myself 
a  small  plug  of  tobacco,  which  previously  was  poison  for  my 
empty  stomach.  Hope  the  diarrhoea  after  the  dog-diet  will 
stop.  The  hare  tastes  beautifully,  like  chicken.  We  make  fire 
of  Cassiope  or  better  still  with  old  dry  branches  of  Sdlix  arctica, 
finger- thick.  Veget.  finished  for  the  year,  everything  yellow 
and  brown,  ready  for  winter's  rest.  Fruit  of  Cassiope,  Sax. 
opposit.,  tricusp.,  Dnjas,  PotentiUa,  Drabee,  Wahlbergella, 
etc. — Wahlberg.  affinis  and  triflorum. 

"A  loon,  geese,  terns,  buntings  in  flocks.  Midnight 
gloom,  gneiss  knolls,  tracks  of  reindeer. 

"  August  28th. — Bosun  a  hare  during  night.  Cold.  Fog. 
Falling  snow.  Diarrhoea.  Misery.  Start  1  p.m.  through 
snow.  Colpodium,  Cystopteris  (com.),  Lycopod.  Selago, 
Rhododendron,  red-polls  in  flocks,  terns,  falcons,  plenty  of 
animal  life  and  rich  plankton  in  several  little  lakes.  Sax.  cernua, 
foot  high  with  top  leaf.  Myrtillus  ulig.  blood-red,  very  com- 
mon, always  without  fruit.  J.  biglumis,  EpiJob.  latifol.  ster., 
Hesperis  com.  in  fruit,  Oxyria,  Draba  nivalis,  hirta,  Cardam. 
bellidifoJ.  Bosun  a  young  hare  4.30  a.m.  Driving  snow,  fog. 
Shared  the  entrails  at  once  and  ate  them  raw,  warmth  in  body. 
Yes,  the  whole  hare  was  divided  in  4  pieces  which  were  eaten 
raw.  Strenuous  march  until  12.30  a.m.  without  finding 
game. 

"August  29th. — I  am  half-dead,  but  found  Woodsia  ilv. 
282 


A  RUNIC  MEMORIAL 

iS  Lay  down  at  7  p.m.  for  I  will  not  hamper  the  movements 
of  my  comrades  on  which  hangs  their  salvation." 

Thus  died  Wulff,  sacrificing  himself  for  the  results  from 
which  he  had  expected  so  much.  Often  during  the  latter  part 
of  the  journey  he  had  maintained  that  the  collections  which  we 
had  brought  with  us  under  all  adversities  had  gradually  become 
so  dearly-bought  that  now  they  must  be  considered  even  before 
our  own  welfare.  Therefore,  at  the  critical  moment,  he  made 
his  dispositions  with  stoic  calm  and  took  his  departure  from  the 
people  nearest  to  his  heart.  His  letter  to  his  young  daughter 
was  a  last  caress  of  a  father,  marked  by  death,  to  the  one  who 
in  life  he  had  set  above  everything.  Words  at  once  proud  and 
tender,  which  ought  not  to  be  reproduced  here.  But  his  filial 
greeting  from  the  threshold  of  death  to  his  old  parents,  who 
would  in  vain  await  his  return,  we  reproduce  with  their  per- 
mission as  the  most  beautiful  memorial  that  can  be  erected  over 
a  dying  man  : 

"  With  stiff  frozen  fingers,  merely  a  final  greeting  before  I, 
exhausted  with  the  adversities  of  the  journey,  lie  down  to  rest. 
I  await  death  with  a  perfectly  calm  mind  and  in  my  heart  is 
peace.  Up  to  the  last  I  have  honestly  striven  to  honour  our 
name  and  hope  that  the  result  of  my  work  may  be  saved. 
Thank  you  for  all  the  good  you  have  bestowed  upon  me,  as  a 
gift  for  the  wanderings  of  mv  life,  ever  since  my  earliest 
childhood." 


283 


CHAPTER  XV 
HOME  TO  THULE 

THE  first  three  weeks  we  spent  in  Etah  were  entirely  occu- 
pied in  regaining  our  strength  as  quickly  as  possible.  It 
was  quite  uncanny  to  see,  as  soon  as  we  got  our  clothes 
off,  how  hunger  had  ravaged  our  bodies ;  we  were  so  thin  that 
ribs  and  chest  especially  showed  sharply  through  the  skin.  But 
although  we  had  been  as  bad  as  we  could  possibly  be  if  our  lives 
were  to  be  saved,  it  was  surprising  how  soon  we  recovered.  It 
was  as  if  our  entire  organism  had  been  purified  and  renewed, 
for  after  less  than  a  month  had  elapsed  we  were  in  better  form 
than  we  had  ever  been  before.  We  were  then  able  to  set  to 
again,  and  much  we  had  to  do  and  many  dispositions  we  had 
to  make.  We  now  knew  that  no  ship  would  arrive  to  fetch  us, 
and  that  we  must  calmly  look  forward  to  another  wintering. 
This  period  of  waiting,  with  its  primitive  conditions  of  life, 
could  scarcely  offer  us  opportunities  for  important  work.  We 
must  go  southward  as  soon  as  might  be,  for  it  was  clear  that  a 
prolonged  stay  in  Etah  would  not  be  possible. 

The  Eskimos'  autumn  hunt  had  entirely  failed,  and  it 
would  be  unjustifiable  of  us  to  use  more  than  was  strictly  neces- 
sary of  the  American  provisions  our  hosts  possessed ;  in  the 
course  of  the  winter  they  themselves  would  need  them.  Already 
by  the  end  of  September  every  day  meant  a  fight  for  meat. 
There  were  a  fair  number  of  hares  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
they  were  eagerly  hunted,  but  although  the  bags  were  good 
they  did  not  last  out  well,  for  no  less  than  twenty-eight  people 
were  living  in  the  house  of  the  expedition.  Twice  a  day  we 
gathered  for  a  big  common  meal  towards  which  every  hunter 
contributed ;  but  although  the  will  to  give  was  there,  it  was 
284. 


HOME  TO  THULE 

obvious  that  it  would  be  preferable  for  us  to  move  on  to  new 
feeding-grounds. 

But  the  expedition  had  still  two  tasks  unaccomplished.  We 
were  very  unwilling  to  leave  the  district  without  having  done 
our  utmost  to  bury  Wulff ;  and  the  collections  of  the  expedi- 
tion were  yet  lying  by  the  point  of  descent  near  Cape  Agassiz, 
and  these  would  have  to  be  fetched  as  soon  as  possible ;  other- 
wise we  ran  the  risk  of  bears  or  foxes  destroying  the  depots. 
For  an  immediate  start  none  of  us  had  the  clothes,  and,  apart 
from  a  few  supplementary  articles,  nothing  was  to  be  had  at 
Etah.  Our  outfit  had  to  be  procured  from  one  of  the  larger 
camps  near  Inglefield  Bay,  where  we  knew  there  was  always 
an  abundance  of  those  furs  which  we  so  badly  missed  here.  So 
we  made  the  following  arrangements  : 

Koch  should  remain,  until  further  notice,  in  Etah,  with  some 
families  who  did  not  wish  to  go  southward  yet.  All  the  others 
were  to  leave  Etah  and  attempt  autumn  hunting  on  the  new  ice 
to  the  south,  whereby  the  question  of  provisions  would  be  easier 
for  those  who  remained.  They  had  yet  considerable  stores  of 
cereals,  flour,  peas,  vegetables,  and  pork.  It  was  fresh  meat 
we  were  short  of  as  long  as  there  were  many  of  us. 

Together  with  all  the  southward-bound  sledges,  I  was  to 
cross  the  glacier  to  Neqe,  wherefrom,  as  soon  as  the  conditions 
of  the  ice  permitted,  I  was  to  force  the  journey  to  Thule.  It  was 
high  time  that,  from  my  station,  I  should  prepare  as  well  as 
possible  for  another  wintering.  Immediately  after  my  arrival 
Peter  Freuchen  was  to  journey  up  to  Koch,  and  with  the  latter 
undertake  the  journey  to  Inglefield  Land.  Ajako  and  Bosun, 
who  were  to  accompany  them  on  this  journey,  must  for  the 
present  go  to  Igdluluarssuit,  where  I  would  find  clothes,  dogs, 
and  other  outfit  for  both  of  them.  Only  in  this  way  did  we 
think  it  possible  to  carry  through  the  task  which  yet 
remained. 

An  attempt  which  had  already  been  made  to  bury  Dr.  Wulff 
and  to  fetch  our  things  near  the  inland-ice  had  miscarried,  and 
that  although  the  task  was  left  in  the  hands  of  Ajako,  he  being 
the  one  who  was  soonest  restored  to  health  after  our  arrival  at 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

Etah.  The  point  was  to  utilize  the  period  before  the  Polar 
darkness  descended,  wherefore  I  had  borrowed  a  team  of  dogs 
for  Ajako,  who,  with  two  Etah  sledges,  started  on  the  19th  of 
September  the  same  way  across  the  inland-ice  as  that  by  which 
we  had  come.  Unfortunately,  the  ill-famed  autumn  storms 
began  immediately  after  his  departure,  and  on  the  27th  of 
September  we  all  had  the  disappointment  of  seeing  him  return 
without  having  been  able  to  reach  his  goal.  He  said  that  up 
on  the  glacier  they  had  been  weather-bound  for  a  whole  week, 
during  violent  drifts  of  snow,  and  as  the  dog  food  was  exhausted 
and  their  own  provision  almost  eaten  up,  they  had  been  forced 
to  turn  back.  On  this  journey  Ajako  and  his  companions  had 
been  provisioned  chiefly  with  walrus,  which  he  himself  had  shot 
during  the  stay  at  Etah.  It  was  not  possible  to  procure  more 
dog  food  for  a  quick  fresh  start  and  a  prolonged  absence,  and 
this  was  the  reason  why  we  found  ourselves  forced  to  fetch 
meat  from  neighbourhoods  with  ampler  supplies  on  the  other 
side  of  the  inland-ice. 

Koch  was  given  the  task  to  go  north  and  carry  out  the  work 
already  mentioned,  as  soon  as  the  necessary  outfit  was  ready. 
By  Igdluluarssuit  and  Ulugssat  I  succeeded  in  the  course  of  a 
week,  by  borrowing  and  buying,  in  finding  outfits  for  Ajako 
and  Bosun,  both  with  regard  to  dogs  and  clothes  ;  they  then  left 
immediately  to  fetch,  via  Etah,  the  collections  by  Humboldt's 
Glacier,  which  could  now  be  reached  by  the  ocean-ice.  But 
Koch's  clothes  were  not  yet  ready,  and  as  it  took  a  longer  time 
than  originally  estimated  to  get  into  communication  with 
Freuchen,  I  told  Koch  to  let  Ajako  and  the  others  drive  up  for 
the  collections  whilst  he  himself  was  to  await  Freuchen's  arrival. 
In  the  company  of  the  latter  he  was  then,  when  his  own  outfit 
was  ready,  to  drive  up  to  the  clough  to  the  north-east  of  Cape 
Scott  to  bury  Dr.  Wulff. 

In  various  ways,  however,  the  sledges  were  delayed,  and 
when  at  last  they  reached  Etah,  with  Freuchen  still  absent  and 
Koch's  outfit  unfinished,  Koch  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  day- 
light was  already  now  so  weak  that  it  was  high  time  to  start. 
Resolute  as  always,  he  decided  to  accompany  Ajako,  and 
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HOME  TO  THULE 

because  of  his  worn-out  clothes  he  endured  an  unusually  hard 
voyage  in  the  cold  autumn.  The  district  round  Cape  Scott 
was  reached  one  of  the  last  days  in  October,  but  unfortunately 
it  soon  proved  impossible  to  find  the  place  where  two  months 
ago  we  had  parted  from  Wulff.  At  that  time  the  land  had 
been  quite  snow-bare,  but  now  there  was  much  snow ;  doughs 
and  stones  were  drifted  over,  so  that  the  place  was  unrecog- 
nizable, it  being  difficult  to  get  a  proper  survey  of  the  land 
because  of  the  faint  daylight.  Further  search  had  to  be  given 
up,  and  the  expedition  limited  their  activities  to  the  fetching 
of  the  collections  near  Cape  Agassiz.  All  these  arrived  in 
Thule  in  good  condition  in  the  middle  of  November.  My  own 
journey  from  Etah  to  Thule,  which  was  hampered  in  many 
ways  because  of  the  season,  I  will  describe  by  the  following 
notes  from  my  diary  : 

On  the  first  of  October  I  set  out  with  the  Etah  sledges 
across  the  fjord-ice  to  the  glacier.  We  break  up  in  a  terrible 
storm ;  it  always  blows  at  Etah  when  there  is  a  clear  sky  and 
fine  weather  in  other  places.  The  storm  and  the  drifting  snow 
pursue  us  right  up  to  the  inland-ice,  where  we  pitch  our  tent 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  after  fourteen  hours'  driving. 

A  very  cold  night. 

As  I  have  no  sleeping-bag,  I  wake  up  with  chattering  teeth 
after  two  hours'  sleep,  and  propose  to  set  off.  We  start  at 
seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  after  a  few  warming  basins 
of  tea. 

Fine,  calm  weather,  heavy  going,  a  good  deal  of  snow  on 
the  glacier,  but  we  decide  to  stick  it — and  we  do  stick  it  in 
spite  of  laggard  dogs — and  arrive  at  the  camp  of  Neqe,  without 
having  had  any  more  sleep,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
the  3rd.  Great  reception  by  women  only.  The  men  had 
gone  out  hunting  reindeer  in  Inglefield  Land  on  the  day 
previous  to  our  arrival. 

There  was  now  new  ice  seaward  as  far  as  we  could  see,  with 
open  water  alongshore  some  way  into  the  fjord. 

We  remained  at  Neqe  for  a  day,  and  were  heartily  enter- 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

tained  all  day  through  in  all  the  houses  with  feasts  of  delicious 
Mattak. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  we  must  once  more  cross  the 
inland-ice  by  the  mountain  Naujartalik,  and  we  arrived  across 
a  local  glacier  at  Igdluluarssuit  in  the  evening.  Here  lived 
Sipsu,  who  had  accompanied  us  on  the  outward  journey  to 
Hall's  Grave,  and  our  reception  was  no  less  hearty  when  we 
met  old  travelling  companions.  Clothes  were  made  for  our- 
selves, musk-ox  skin  was  prepared  for  sleeping-bags,  and  at 
length  clothes  for  Koch  were  ordered. 

A  few  days  later  I  attempted  to  continue  to  the  head  of 
Inglefield  Gulf,  intending  from  there  to  cross  the  inland-ice 
towards  Thule,  but  unfortunately  I  had  to  turn  back  because 
the  new  ice  would  not  carry  me.  By  the  camp  itself  there  was 
excellent  autumn  hunting  on  shiny  ice,  and  our  companions 
from  Etah  quickly  got  their  share  of  this,  but  it  was  important 
for  me  to  push  forward  so  that  Koch  and  Freuchen  could  go 
north  again  before  the  days  became  too  short,  and  by  the  14th 
I  had  started  southward  again  with  Harrigan. 

Our  route  lay  behind  Qana  via  Iterdlagssuaq  across  three 
big  lakes  and  a  small  glacier  which  led  down  to  Kangerdluarsuk. 
Strangely  enough,  far  inland  we  here  passed  a  river  which  ran 
from  the  inland-ice  out  towards  the  middle  sea,  the  water  of 
which  was  quite  salt  and  undrinkable. 

Further  in  we  passed  between  two  glaciers,  which  meet 
each  other  approximately  by  the  point  of  descent  to  Kan- 
gerdluarsuk. The  cross-pressure  of  the  glaciers  has  ploughed 
up  the  stones  of  the  ground  so  that  from  above  it  looks  as  if  a 
mighty  stone-paved  high  road  is  running  between  the  two 
glaciers.  Some  way  further  down,  where  these  have  worked 
closer  towards  each  other,  the  pressed-up  moraine,  which  con- 
sists only  of  big  stones,  assumed  the  character  of  a  ridge,  broad 
at  the  base  but  sharp  towards  the  top,  looking  most  phantastic. 

Outside  the  mouth  of  the  little  Kangerdluarsuk,  however, 
we  met  again  with  the  open  water  which  had  stopped  us  the 
last  time,  so  I  made  a  new  decision,  as  under  no  circumstances 
would  I  again  return.  I  would  attempt  to  go  up  across  the 
288 


OUR    IIOSTKSS  :     ANK    SOFIK    FROM    KANOEKDLl'GSSUAG 


mission    HOUSE    AT    KANGKRDLUGSSCAG 


OUR   DOGS 


HOME  TO  THULE 

glacier  again,  driving  behind  Quinisut,  and  by  this  way  reach 
right  into  the  head  of  Inglefield  Gulf,  which  should  now  be 
covered  with  ice. 

We  spent  a  day  in  seeking  a  point  of  ascent  to  the  glacier, 
and  at  length  we  succeeded  in  finding  a  place  where  we  decided 
to  make  the  attempt,  although  it  did  not  look  very  inviting. 
Steep  glacier-edge  in  which  we  had  to  hew  steps ;  slippery  blue 
ice  where  we  must  keep  our  balance,  in  constant  danger  of 
sliding  down  again.  For  1  kilometre  we  had  to  carry  our  goods 
on  our  backs  across  a  steep  mountain  and  through  soft  snow. 
At  length,  after  four  hours  of  toil,  we  were  so  high  up  that  we 
reached  the  snow  and  soon  we  could  begin  to  drive.  In  the 
evening,  as  darkness  fell,  we  drove  down  across  a  snow-bare 
mountain-land  littered  with  big,  loose  stones  which  often  rolled 
down,  racing  with  ourselves  when  the  sledge  or  the  dogs  hap- 
pened to  loosen  them.  Along  a  river  we  reached  the  coast, 
and  on  the  following  day  we  intended  to  try  the  ice.  At  dawn, 
after  a  good  night's  sleep  in  warm  musk-ox  skins,  we  attempted 
the  fjord-ice.     Alas,  neither  would  this  earn7  us  ! 

Wait  we  would  not,  so  we  had  to  get  up  across  the  ice,  first 
along  the  glacier  up  to  the  funny  mountain  crags  of  Qatarssuit, 
so  named  because  at  a  distance  they  look  like  two  buckets 
turned  upside  down.  But  now  we  found  it  impossible  to 
descend  the  glacier.  After  a  few  hours'  search  in  a  snowstorm, 
which  fell  on  us  with  such  violent  gusts  that  often  we  were 
blown  off  our  feet,  we  found  at  last  a  river-course  which  went 
right  into  the  glacier  like  a  big  artistically  bored  hole.  From 
this  opening  one  looked  into  a  black  bottomless  gap ;  but  we 
reckoned  out  that  the  river,  when  at  some  time  it  bored  through 
the  inland-ice,  must  have  burst  for  itself  an  outlet  by  the 
moraine.  With  a  strap  round  our  waists  we  therefore  let  our- 
selves slide  on  to  this  toboggan  run  and  rush  into  the  darkness, 
an  adventurous  race  which  ended  in  us  suddenly  finding  our- 
selves hovering  in  the  air  above  the  moraine  as  if  spewed  out 
from  the  gap  of  the  monster.  We  then  increased  the  length 
of  the  line  and  slowly  let  ourselves  down  to  the  fjord.  In  the 
same  way  all  the  dogs  and  sledges  were  gradually  transported, 
T  289 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

until  the  last  man,  doubling  the  line  through  a  hole  knocked 
in  the  glacier,  finished  the  many  aerial  journeys  of  the  day. 

On  two  big  lakes,  across  good  land  with  fine  snow,  we  came 
down  to  the  shore  from  which  the  descent  on  to  the  ice  took 
place.  That  was  the  most  adventurous  drive  I  have  ever 
experienced.  The  run  was  so  steep  that  only  with  the  greatest 
danger  could  one  descend  after  having  first  lowered  the  sledge 
some  way  down.  The  mountain  which  we  passed  in  this  way 
was  some  600  metres  high. 

At  length  we  were  down  on  the  ice,  and  when  darkness  set 
in  we  were  warmly  embraced  by  Pastor  Gustav  Olsen  at  the 
mission  station  of  Kangerdlugssuaq. 

On  the  17th  of  October  we  arrived  at  the  mission  station 
and  rested  for  a  few  days  to  draw  breath  after  the  journeys  of 
the  last  strenuous  days.  From  morning  to  night  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  camp  vied  with  each  other  in  feasting  us,  and  the 
menus  included  not  only  the  beloved  Mattak,  but  also  delicacies 
like  reindeer  meat  and  salmon. 

During  our  visit  there  was  a  memorial  service  for  our 
deceased  comrades,  when  Pastor  Olsen  spoke  with  such  pathos 
that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  camp  who  were  present  at  the 
service  were  moved  to  tears. 

On  the  21st  of  October  we  departed,  and,  accompanied  by 
two  brothers  from  the  mission  station,  we  drove  right  across 
the  snow-bare  stony  land  via  the  great  salmon  lake  to  Olrik 
Bay,  and  thence  once  more  across  the  inland-ice  to  Thule, 
where  we  arrived  on  the  22nd  of  October. 


THE   ARRIVAL  AT  THULE 

It  was  as  if  all  houses  suddenly  sneezed  at  once ;  from  every 
entrance  a  crush  of  people  poured  out,  stormed  towards  us  and 
surrounded  us.  Only  Harrigan's  young  wife  did  not  come 
out ;  she  was  so  overcome  by  joy  at  our  sudden  arrival  that  she 
broke  out  weeping,  unable  to  rise  from  her  bench. 

I  hastened  down  to  Freuchen,  whose  house  lies  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour's  walk  from  the  camp  of  the  Greenlanders. 
290 


HOME  TO  THULE 

He  was  lying  in  bed  reading  a  year-old  copy  of  LoUand-Falster 
Folketidende.  He  was  taken  entirely  by  surprise ;  I  entered 
the  room  before  he  had  time  to  collect  himself,  as  if  shot  up 
through  the  floor,  fresh  from  my  journey  with  the  cold  reeking 
from  my  clothes. 

The  eyes  with  which  my  old  friend  looked  at  me  I  shall 
remember  as  long  as  I  live.     I  was  back  again  in  Thule ! 


291 


APPENDICES 

FLORA  AND  FAUNA  ON  THE  NORTH  COAST 
OF  GREENLAND 

BASED  ON   DB.  WULFF'S  NOTES 
By  C.  H.  OSTENFELD 

PAGE  after  page  of  Thorild  Wulff's  diaries  testify  to  the  fact  that  his 
thoughts  occupied  themselves  greatly  with  the  problem :  How  is  it 
possible  for  plants  and  animals  to  live  and  reproduce  themselves  under 
such  harsh  conditions  of  life  as  the  high  Arctic  regions  offer,  and  what  peculiari- 
ties are  they  which  enable  them  to  do  so? 

The  problem  is  not  a  new  one.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  forced  itself 
upon  every  Arctic  explorer  who  keenly  observes  the  natural  characteristics  of 
the  regions  through  which  he  travels.  In  the  course  of  time  numerous  con- 
tributions have  appeared  with  regard  to  this  problem,  but  many  aspects  are 
still  unsolved.  Neither  do  Wulff's  notes  present  a  final  and  exhaustive  reply, 
but  they  contain  several  new  observations  and  conclusions,  thus  forming  new 
stones  to  be  added  to  the  many-roomed  building  of  our  knowledge. 

FLORA 

In  the  Arctic  countries,  as  everywhere  else  upon  earth,  the  flora  forms 
the  foundation  for  the  fauna.  Where  no  plant  exists,  no  animal  life  is  pos- 
sible, for  all  creation  of  organic  matter  is  due  to  plants.  The  animals,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  merely  consumers.  If  they  are  herbivorous  they  consume 
directly  vegetable  matter,  and  if  they  are  carnivorous  they  consume  the  flesh 
of  herbivorous  animals.  In  both  cases  we  find  as  the  last  instance  the  plants 
as  the  bearers  of  life. 

When  we  consider  the  flora  and  fauna  of  the  north  coast  of  Greenland,  it 
would  therefore  seem  natural  that  we  should  commence  by  an  examination  of 
the  flora,  investigating  the  conditions  of  life  with  which  they  must  contend. 
The  climatic  conditions  are  anything  but  favourable,  and  only  the  hardiest 
plants  with  the  most  modest  requirements  can  exist  in  these  regions  ;  therefore 
the  number  of  plant  varieties  is  only  small — about  sixty  flowering  plants — and 
they  all  bear  a  certain  common  stamp. 

In  order  to  thrive  a  plant  requires  :  Nourishment  from  the  soil,  a  certain 
amount  of  heat  and  moisture,  and  light.  The  first  condition  is  fulfilled  almost 
everywhere  in  the  Arctic  regions,  so  poor  in  plant  life,  by  the  presence  of 
nutritive  salts.  The  soil  produced  by  disintegration  (frost,  etc.)  is  as  a  rule 
more  than  sufficient  for  this  purpose,  as  the  plants  do  not  grow  so  closely  that 
they  have  to  fight  with  each  other  for  the  nourishment  in  the  ground.  This 
292 


FLORA  AND  FAUNA  ON  THE  NORTH  COAST 

claim  of  life  we  may  thus  put  aside,  but  it  is  worth  noticing  that  vegetation 
is  richer  where  the  ground  consists  of  certain  kinds  of  rock — for  instance, 
limestone,  than  of  others — for  instance,  ground  rock.  This,  however,  is  no 
peculiarity  confined  to  the  Arctic  regions. 

The  second  condition  of  life — heat — is  in  the  Arctic  regions  present  to  such 
a  small  degree  that  it  becomes  of  definite  significance  to  the  luxuriance  of 
plant  growth.  We  will  therefore  examine  this  point  more  closely,  deciding 
from  the  outset  that  plants  cannot  grow:  at  temperatures  below  freezing-point. 
On  the  other  hand,  Arctic  plants  can  put  up  with  being  frozen  stiff  without 
detrimental  effects.  Their  growth  stops,  but  as  soon  as  they  thaw  they 
recommence  their  growth.  Thus  Wulff  observed  (on  the  4th  of  May)  a  tuft- 
saxifrage  with  fully  developed  flowers  on  inch-long  stalks  ;  it  was  quite  frozen, 
the  temperature  of  the  air  being  minus  11°  C,  but  all  tissues  seemed  capable  of 
life,  and  when  spring  returned  it  would,  without  doubt,  directly  continue  its 
development. 

On  the  north  coast  of  Greenland  the  temperature  is  above  freezing-point 
only  during  a  short  period  of  the  year.  At  noon  on  the  30th  of  May  the  first 
positive  temperature  of  the  air  was  observed  (plus  0'8  C),  and  by  the  end  of 
August  the  continual  frost  again  sets  in.  There  is  thus  only  a  period  of  at 
most  three  months  within  which  the  plants  have  to  grow,  flower,  and  fruit, 
and  store  nourishment  for  next  year.  And  how  many  hours,  or  even  days, 
within  this  short  time  must  be  subtracted  because  snow  and  cold  stop  the 
growth  !  In  the  middle  of  June  Wulff  wrote  in  his  diary  (17th  of  June)  : 
"  The  vegetation  is  yet  in  its  winter  repose.  The  soil  is  frozen ;  the  plants 
which  I  brought  from  our  previous  camp  cannot  yet  be  pressed,  as  the  clumps 
of  moss  and  pieces  of  soil  attached  to  them  are  frozen  rigid."  He  is  of  the 
opinion  that,  on  the  whole,  vegetation  revives  only  by  the  summer  solstice,  and 
writes  very  aptly  :  "  The  '  explosive  '  development  of  the  Arctic  vegetation 
takes  place  in  a  kind  of  staccato — rapidly  during  the  warm,  light  hours,  and 
ceases  entirely  during  the  many  long,  cold,  windy  days  of  sleet." 

One  would  think  it  impossible  for  plants  to  manage  with  so  little  warmth, 
but  it  is  sufficient  for  the  most  frugal  among  them.  It  is  a  help  to  them  that 
the  soil  and  the  plants  themselves  are  warmed  more  quickly  and  to  a  higher 
degree  than  the  surrounding  air.  It  is  a  well-known  phenomenon  that  a 
dark  surface  subjected  to  the  rays  of  the  sun  becomes  warmer  than  the  air ; 
and  in  Arctic  regions  this  fact  is  undoubtedly  of  great  importance  for  the 
growth  of  the  plants. 

Similarly  to  other  Arctic  explorers,  Wulff  has  repeatedly  measured  the 
temperature  on  various  types  of  ground  in  order  to  obtain  statistics  to  illus- 
trate this  point.  A  few  of  his  results  will  be  given  here  to  demonstrate  the 
various  differences  : 

May  19th,  2  p.m. — A  hill  sloping  towards  the  sun.  Calm,  clear  sunshine 
(McMillan  Valley). 

Temperature  of  the  air  in  the  shade  minus  11  '8°  C. 

The  thermometer  with  its  ball  of  mercury  : 

1.  On  a  light-brown,  sunny  cliff  of  sandstone  :  minus  1°  C. 

2.  On  a  sunny  clump  of  saxifrage  :  plus  2'8°  C. 

3.  In  cespitous  moss  :  plus  9'2°  C. 

June  20th,  4  p.m. — A  slope  to  the  west.     Calm,  clear  sunshine  (Chip  Inlet). 
Temperature  of  the  air  in  the  shade  plus  5°  C. 

293 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

The  thermometer  with  its  ball  of  mercury  : 

1.  On  a  sunny,  flowering  tuft  of  saxifrage  :  plus  21'1°  C. 

2.  2  cms.  down  in  dry,  sandy  soil  :  plus  14' 2°  C. 

3.  6  cms.  down  in  moist,  sandy  soil  :  plus  12'5°  C. 

4.  12  cms.  down  in  moist,  sandy  soil :  plus  7'3°  C. 

July  15th,  1  a.m. — A  slope  100  metres  above  sea-level.  Plentiful  vegeta- 
tion.    Calm,  clear  sunshine  (Summer  Valley). 

Temperature  of  the  air  in  the  shade  plus  12°  C. 
The  thermometer  with  its  ball  of  mercury  : 

1.  On  a  sunny  cluster  of  poppies  :  plus  24' 4°  C. 

2.  3  cms.  down  in  a  vigorous  green  clump  of  silene  :  plus  24'3°  C. 

3.  10  cms.  down  in  the  same  clump  (near  its  bottom) :  plus  H'80  C. 

4.  1  cm.  down  in  moist  soil  :  plus  18'5°  C. 

5.  13  cms.  down  in  moist  soil  :  plus  14' 8°  C. 

These  examples  show  quite  plainly  that  the  plants,  fortunately  for  them, 
get  considerably  more  heat  than  one  might  expect,  judging  from  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  air  alone.  But  one  must  not  overestimate  the  significance  of  these 
figures,  as  they  hold  good  only  when  the  air  is  calm.  The  wind  naturally  cools 
considerably  the  surface  of  the  soil  and  the  vegetation,  so  that  on  a  windy 
day  there  will  be  no  appreciable  difference  between  the  temperatures  of  the  air 
and  the  soil.  Further,  sun  is  necessary,  so  that  again  on  dull  days  conditions 
will  be  different.  Thus  the  limitations  must  not  be  underestimated,  though 
it  is  of  importance  to  note  that  a  sunny  slope,  wTell  sheltered,  always  exhibits 
the  most  vigorous  and  the  earliest  development  of  vegetation. 

In  Arctic  regions,  where  snow  and  ice  abound,  one  would  expect  there  to 
be  always  sufficient  moisture  for  the  plants  ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  under  all 
circumstances.  The  ability  of  the  plants  to  absorb  water  is  relative  to  the 
degree  of  warmth.  Below  zero  the  roots  of  the  plants  naturally  are  unable  to 
absorb  water  ;  but  also  at  low  positive  temperatures  the  absorption  of  water 
takes  place  very  slowly.  Thus  a  disproportion  between  absorption  and  evapora- 
tion from  the  parts  above  ground  might  easily  arise  when  the  latter  are  exposed 
to  strong  sunshine.  In  this  comparison  one  must  remember  that  the  soil  in 
the  high  Arctic  countries  is  permanently  frozen  at  a  certain  depth  ;  the  summer 
heat  is  able  to  thaw  merely  the  upper  layers.  To  satisfy  their  need  of  water 
the  plants  are  thus  restricted  to  the  absorption  of  moisture  from  this  layer, 
and  from  the  water  liberated  by  the  melting  of  the  snow.  There  may,  of 
course,  be  cases  where  this  is  insufficient,  or  where,  at  any  rate,  water  can 
merely  be  absorbed  to  so  slight  a  degree  that  only  certain  varieties  of  plants 
can  manage.  Because  of  the  evaporation  due  to  very  dry  air  and  strong  sun- 
shine, the  soil,  which  first  is  laid  bare  when  the  snow  evaporates,  often  becomes 
very  dry,  as  the  frozen  subsoil  only  to  a  slight  degree  permits  the  water  to 
rise  to  the  surface.  Wulff's  diary  contained  many  notes  about  this ;  for 
instance,  on  the  9th  of  June  he  wrote:  "The  snow  is  melting  rapidly,  but 
the  water  evaporates  quickly,  so  that  it  does  not  moisten  the  soil  at  all  except 
round  the  patches  of  snow  ";  and  not  until  the  15th  of  June  did  he  notice 
that  the  melting  took  place  to  such  a  degree  that  the  water  could  run  along 
the  ground.  He  therefore  thought  it  probable  that,  under  conditions  like 
these,  the  plant  roots  must  be  able  to  absorb  the  water  which  presumably  rises 
from  the  frozen  subsoil  because  of  the  capillary  action  between  the  particles 
of  the  dry  upper  layers.  Not  until  the  10th  of  July  does  he  write  in  his 
294 


WHITE-BLOSSOMED    SAXIFRAGE    IN    FRONT    OF    A    STONE    BLOCK 
(  Saxifraga  QroenlandicQ ) 
Photographed  at  Disko  by  Dr.  Th.  Wulff. 


TYPES   OF   OESPITOUS    GRASSES    (FESTUE-GRA3S    AND    MEADOW- GRASS)    GROWING    IN    DRV    PLACES 

[Festuca  ovina  vivipara,  F.  ovina  Bupina,   Poa  abbreviate) 

Only  a  small  part  of  the  tufts  has  been  prepared. 


VARIOUS  HERBACEOUS  PLANTS  FROM  THE  NORTH  COAST  OF  GREENLAND 

Note  the  position  of  the  leaves,  and  the  flowers  on  long  stalks.  At  the  top  is  shown  Erigeron 
compositus,  to  the  left  Draba  a/j>imi,  and  beneath  Minuartia  vernat  to  the  right  MelandTvum  apetalum, 
and  at  the  bottom  Pedicu'.aris  I  Ursula.  The  members  of  the  expedition  used  to  chew  the  latter  to 
appease  their  hunger. 


FLORA  AND  FAUNA  ON  THE  NORTH  COAST 

diary  :  "  Mild,  quiet  rain  falls  for  several  hours,  the  first  proper  rain  this 
year."  Thus  there  is  a  period — the  springtime  of  vegetation  in  these  lati- 
tudes— during  which  the  plants  may  be  exposed  to  thirst,  a  fact  which  one 
might  refuse  to  believe  if  one  thought  merely  of  the  omnipresent  enormous 
masses  of  snow  and  ice.  Later  on  there  will  be  more  than  sufficient  water ; 
the  snow  melts  so  that  the  soil  becomes  slushy,  and  snow  and  rain  fall  in 
abundance  ;  then  the  plants  have  some  difficulty  in  not  getting  drowned. 

If  the  Arctic  plants  are  thus  subjected  to  pronounced  extremes  with  regard 
to  moisture,  the  peculiarities  do  not  become  less  when  we  consider  their  relation 
to  the  light.  To  thrive,  every  green  plant  requires  light,  as  light  is  one  of  the 
essential  conditions  for  the  formation  of  organic  matter  from  the  carbonic  acid 
of  the  air.  In  the  Far  North  the  winter  is  a  dark  period  when  the  plants 
sleep  under  their  cover  of  snow,  but,  as  a  compensation,  during  summer  there 
is  light  botli  day  and  night.  As  far  as  the  light  is  concerned,  the  plants  are 
thus  able  to  work  and  build  through  the  whole  of  the  twenty-four  hours, 
so  that  the  short  duration  of  summer  is  to  some  degree  counterbalanced.  This 
has  been  demonstrated  by  experiments  ;  they  really  are  capable  of  exploiting 
this  advantage  which  they  have  over  their  kindred  of  more  southern  regions, 
where  the  darkness  interrupts  their  work. 

Summing  up  these  considerations,  one  may  say  that  high  Arctic  plants 
have  a  much  shorter  time  of  vegetation — merely  two  or  three  of  the  twelve 
months  of  the  year — but  that,  on  the  other  hand,  during  this  period  they  have 
to  work  incessantly  under  difficult  and  harsh  conditions. 

We  shall  now  see  what  the  plants  that  are  to  be  found  in  these  regions 
look  like,  and  how  they  are  adapted  to  their  conditions. 

The  most  prominent  feature  of  the  high  Arctic  plants  is  the  fact  that  they 
are  low  and  keep  close  to  the  ground.  They  are  mostly  herbaceous,  though 
some  are  low  shrubs.  Shrubs  as  we  know  them,  not  to  mention  trees,  do  not 
exist  so  far  north. 

The  largest  plant  is  the  Arctic  willow.  Old  specimens  of  this  may,  even 
on  the  north  coast  of  Greenland,  have  a  stem  rather  thicker  than  a  finger  and 
more  than  a  metre  long;  but  it  lies  along  the  ground,  forming  by  its  profuse 
branching  a  network  through  which  the  leaves  and  catkins  of  the  year  peep 
out.  Similarly  to  other  varieties  of  willow,  it  sheds  its  leaves  in  the  autumn. 
Another  dwarf  bush  characterizing  the  high  Arctic  regions  is  the  Arctic 
heather,  whose  tiny  evergreen  leaves,  packed  closely  together,  form  four  rows 
along  the  branches,  thereby  giving  them  a  square  shape ;  it  has  beautiful, 
white,  bell-shaped  flowers,  much  resembling  the  lily  of  the  valley.  The  whole 
of  the  bush  is  rich  in  fragrant  resinous  matter,  which  makes  it  excellent  fuel. 

Two  very  common  dwarf  bushes  are  the  red^  saxifrage  and  the  white  moun- 
tain anemone;  both  have  rather  thick  leaves  which,  as  a  rule,  wither  in  the 
course  of  the  winter,  but  remain  on  the  plant  as  a  protection  for  the  young 
leaves  and  buds. 

Many  of  the  herbaceous  plants  form  small,  close  clumps  where  the  shoots 
fight  for  room  ;  every  shoot  has  a  few  fresh  green  leaves  towards  the  top,  whilst 
the  rest  is  hidden  in  a  thick  bed  of  withered  leaves.  The  flowers  shoot  up 
above  the  surface  of  the  clump.  This  cespitous  formation  may  be  observed 
in  the  tuft-saxifrage,  in  the  tuft-silene  (where  the  clumps  may  be  so  strongly 
arched  that  they  almost  assume  a  half-ball  shape),  in  the  little  white  or  yellow 
draba,  and  in  many  others,  as,  for  instance,  several  varieties  of  grasses. 

Other  herbaceous  plants  may  have  leaves  clustering  close  to  the  ground, 

29f> 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

and  flowers  freely  raised  on  shorter  or  longer  stalks,  but  the  shoots  are  not  so 
close  as  in  the  cespitous  plants  proper.  To  these  belong,  for  instance,  the 
beautiful  yellow  or  white  mountain  poppy  and  several  varieties  of  saxifrage 
and  potentilla. 

In  moist  soil,  in  swamps  and  similar  places,  grow  cotton  grass,  a  few 
varieties  of  other  grasses,  and  some  other  plants;  for  instance,  the  yellow- 
crowfoot.  In  these  varieties  the  shoots  are  spread  out  and  stand  singly,  as 
do  plants  in  swamps  and  fens  in  this  country. 

All  these  plants  are  perennial ;  annual  varieties  do  not  exist  so  far  north. 
It  is  not  possible  for  a  flower  to  sprout,  grow,  flower,  and  fruit  during  the 
short  summer ;  the  work  has  to  be  distributed  over  several  years,  as  one  single 
year  would  merely  give  time  for  a  slight  production  of  organic  matter.  Every 
shoot  forms  merely  a  small  piece  of  stalk  and  a  few  leaves,  so  that  several 
years  will  elapse  before  the  plant  is  strong  enough  to  develop  flower  and  fruit. 

From  the  plants  of  our  own  country  we  know  that  a  considerable  period 
generally  elapses  between  flowering  and  the  ripening  of  the  fruit,  and  as  a  rule 
the  flowering  takes  place  some  time  after  the  leaves  have  commenced  their 
development  in  the  spring.  An  Arctic  plant  has  not  all  this  time  at  its  dis- 
posal, having  to  flower  and  fruit  during  a  period  of  vegetation  of  two  to  three 
months.  In  most  Arctic  plants  the  flowering  therefore  takes  place  imme- 
diately after  the  development  has  commenced  in  the  "  spring."  The  red 
saxifrage  is  the  first  vernal  flower  of  the  high  north.  Wulff  saw  it  flowering 
already  on  the  12th  of  June,  this  being  a  time  when  vegetation  in  many  other 
places  had  not  awakened  from  its  winter  rest.  But  after  that  things  developed 
rapidly.  About  two  or  three  weeks  after  the  vegetation  as  a  whole  had  begun 
to  move,  most  of  the  varieties  were  already  in  full  flower  (July  7th  to  14th), 
and  by  the  beginning  of  August  (2nd)  the  red  saxifrage,  mountain  anemone, 
and  others,  were  already  in  "  an  advanced  stage  of  fruition."  The  summer  was 
nearly  over,  and  when  the  expedition  after  the  march  across  the  inland-ice 
once  more  came  down  on  ice-free  land  on  the  24th  of  August,  it  found  the 
vegetation  in  its  full  autumnal  garb,  with  ripe  seeds  and  yellow  and  russet 
leaves. 

Thus  the  plants  have  a  busy  time,  and  they  are  only  enabled  to  carry  out 
their  programme  by  considering  carefully  the  hours,  and  by  being  prepared 
to  set  to  as  soon  as  spring  comes.  If  one  were  to  examine  an  Arctic  plant 
immediately  before  it  goes  to  its  winter  rest,  one  would  be  surprised  to  see 
how  big  are  the  buds  of  next  year.  If  the  outer  protecting  husks  of  such  a 
bud  are  removed,  one  will  find  inside  these  both  leaves  and  flowers  already 
far  developed.  They  remain  in  this  state  throughout  the  winter,  their  living 
tissues,  as  already  mentioned,  being  able  to  resist  very  strong  cold;  and  as 
soon  as  spring  beckons  they  burst  out.  By  this  the  speedy  flowering  is  made 
possible,  and  this,  again,  gives  sufficient  time  for  the  ripening  of  the  fruit  just 
at  the  time  when  the  temperature  is  at  its  highest. 

The  plants  which  flower  earlier  are  those  which  become  uncovered  soonest 
when  the  snow  in  the  spring  begins  to  evaporate,  and  those  which  have  been 
uncovered  by  snow  through  the  winter.  These  are  the  most  hardy  varieties. 
The  more  delicate — if  one  may  use  the  word  "  delicate"  in  connection  with 
the  hardy  vegetation  of  the  high  North — are  covered  with  snow  during 
winter,  and  only  emerge  from  its  protective  cover  when  the  melting  of  the 
snow  commences  in  earnest.  For  the  snow  pla.ys  an  important  part  in  plant 
life,  as  it  prevents  too  sudden  changes  in  temperature,  and  also  protects  them 
296 


A    MANY    YEARS    OLD    SPECIMEN    OF    THE    ARCTIC    WILLOW    (SALIH  ARi  TIC  A] 

The  stem  and  branches  were  lying  along  the  ground.     To  the  left  a  male  catkin  in  full  bloom. 

Murray  Island,  July  3rd. 


SECTION  OK  THE  THICKEST  STEM  OF 
WILLOW  WHICH  THE  EXPEDITION 
FOUND.  TO  THE  RIGHT  TRANSVERSE 
SECTION    OF   SAME.         NATURAL    SIZE 


AN       EXCEPTIONALLY      VIGOROUS      SHOOT      OF     ARCTIC 

WILLOW:    LARGE.    BROAD    LEAVES    AND    LONG    FEMALE 

CATKINS 

Summer  Valley.  July  18th. 


A  small  reed  [Juncus  biglumis)  with 
flowers  of  the  last  three  years.  Note  the 
scanty  growth  of  each  year.  Below :  two 
specimens  of  saxifrage  [Saxifraga  nivalis), 
taken  at  a  month's  interval.  To  the  right 
the  flower  stalk  has  not  reached  above  the 
leaves,  to  the  left  it  bears  fruit. 


YELLOW-BLOSSOMED    SAXIFRAGE     [SAXIFRAllA   FLAGELLARIS)    WITH     LONG     THREAD-LIKE     RCXNERS 
WHICH    CARRY    SMALL   SHOOTS    AT    THE    END 

The  specimen  on  the  right  was  taken  sixteen  days  before  the  one  on  the  left,  so  that  the  rapid  development 

of  runners  and  flower  is  apparent. 


FLORA  AND  FAUNA  ON  THE  NORTH  COAST 

against  a  too  vigorous  drying-up  by  the  wind.  Many  varieties  were  only  dis- 
covered by  VVulfF  during  the  month  of  July,  as  they  had  been  hidden  by  the 
snow  until  then.  In  his  diaries  he  repeatedly  expresses  his  surprise  at  rinding 
that  first  one  and  then  another  of  the  varieties  are  missing ;  but  later  on 
the  error  is  corrected  :  "  It  is  here  after  all,  but  it  was  covered  by  the  snow." 

As  already  mentioned,  all  the  various  species  are  perennial,  this  being  in 
accordance  with  the  short  period  of  vegetation.  Yet  another  fact  must  be 
mentioned  in  this  connection  :  several  Arctic  plants  do  not  get  time  for  a 
yearly  ripening  of  their  fruit.  This  may  be  due  to  an  unusually  early  arrival 
of  autumn,  with  frost,  or  to  a  late  spring,  so  that  the  plants  become  bare  of 
snow  very  late.  Under  these  circumstances  annual  plants  would  soon  have  to 
give  up ;  but  the  perennial  plants,  on  the  other  hand,  can  wait  for  a  favourable 
summer.  There  are  Arctic  plants  which  only  occasionally  reach  the  state  of 
fruition,  being  limited  during  other  years  to  a  mere  state  of  vegetation. 

The  Arctic  flowers  have  often  been  praised  for  their  size  and  their  clear 
colours,  and  considering  their  hard  conditions  of  life  one  cannot  help  wonder- 
ing that  so  much  beauty  can  be  developed  ;  but  nevertheless  they  are  very 
modest  in  comparison  with  the  flowers  of  our  homely  plants.  It  is  the  deso- 
late surroundings  which  make  the  Arctic  flowers  so  conspicuous. 

The  pollination  of  the  flowers  and  the  subsequent  fertilization  is,  of  course, 
the  prelude  to  fructification.  Pollination  takes  place  either  by  the  aid  of  the 
wind,  the  pollen  being  carried  along  through  the  air,  when  it  is  a  matter  of 
chance  whether  or  no  it  will  alight  on  a  flower,  or  by  the  aid  of  the  insects  ; 
thus  it  is  also  in  high  Arctic  countries.  In  the  short  summer,  flies,  humble- 
bees  and  multi-coloured  butterflies  flit  from  flower  to  flower  in  search  of 
honey  and  pollen,  and  these  simultaneously  undertake  the  pollination.  The 
more  open  flowers,  like  the  poppy  and  the  anemone,  attract  the  flies,  whilst 
the  butterflies  lower  their  long  probosces  into  the  nectary  of  the  silene,  the 
red  saxifrage,  and  the  Arctic  stock  or  night-smelling  rocket,  a  rare  plant  found 
in  several  places  on  the  north  coast  of  Greenland.  This  latter  possesses  a 
strong  odour,  a  very  uncommon  quality  among  Arctic  plants.  White  or 
yellow  are  the  most  frequent  colours  of  flowers,  but  red  in  various  shades  is  also 
to  be  found  ;  blue,  on  the  contrary,  is  very  rare  in  the  Arctic  regions,  and  no 
flower  found  on  the  north  coast  of  Greenland  is  of  this  colour. 

So  far  we  have  only  considered  the  flowering  plants  ;  but  besides  these  a 
considerable  number  of  mosses  and  lichens  exist.  The  lichens  grow  especially 
on  the  naked  rock,  which  in  many  places  they  adorn  with  their  vivid  white, 
yellow,  and  reddish  colours,  whilst  the  mosses  mostly  grow  on  the  soil  among 
the  flowering  plants. 

Also  a  few  fungi  are  to  be  found  on  the  north  coast.  Wulff  mentions  small 
yellowish-brown  toadstools  and  white  puff-balls.  The  latter  are  edible ;  he 
mentions  a  really  good  dish  made  from  the  product  of  the  land  :  musk-ox  soup 
with  brent-goose  bones  and  a  couple  of  handfuls  of  chopped  puff-balls. 

I  shall  not  go  deeply  into  the  matter  of  the  way  in  which  the  various 
plants  combine  into  a  plant  society.  I  will  merely  mention  that  vegetation  is 
not  evenly  distributed.  For  the  most  part  the  soil  is  almost  bare,  with  single 
or  scattered  plants  ;  but  in  the  more  fertile  places — for  instance,  where  the 
excrements  of  the  animals  have  fertilized  the  soil — the  plants  occasionally 
form  an  entirely  connected  cover;  but  these  spots  are  not  extensive.  In  the 
bogs  one  also  occasionally  meets  with  a  rather  dense  growth  of  plants,  mostly 
mosses  and  grass. 

297 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

A  distribution  of  plants  peculiar  to  high  Arctic  regions  is  the  so-called 
"  chequer-ground."  When  the  snow  melts,  the  loose,  flat  ground  will  in 
several  places  turn  to  a  porridge  of  sodden  sand  and  clay.  When  this  por- 
ridge freezes  or  is  dried  up,  cracks  will,  according  to  physical  laws,  be  formed 
in  it,  so  that  it  becomes,  as  it  were,  divided  up  into  a  lot  of  many-sided  little 
spaces  framed  in  the  network  of  the  cracks.  This  structure  may  keep  its  form 
for  years,  and  in  this  case  the  cracks  will  become  deeper.  When  the  plants 
invade  this  ground  they  generally  settle  in  the  cracks,  the  seeds  being  blown 
there  by  the  wind,  the  plants  finding  there  the  necessary  shelter.  In  this 
way  the  network  of  the  cracks  becomes  covered  with  plants,  whilst  the 
"chequers"  themselves  remain  bare.  This  chequer-ground  is,  according  to 
Wulff's  diaries,  very  common  on  the  north  coast  of  Greenland. 

FAUNA 

When  we  consider  how  scanty  is  the  vegetation,  it  is  really  surprising  that 
animal  life  on  the  north  coast  of  Greenland  is  so  rich,  and  especially  that  so 
many  large  animals  are  to  be  found.  Much  has  been  told  of  these  animals  in 
Knud  Rasmussen's  narrative,  as  they  were  of  vital  importance  to  the  expedition. 

If  we  keep  to  the  land  animals  and  consider  especially  the  larger  of  them — 
i.e.,  mammals  and  birds — it  would  seem  natural  to  divide  them  into  her- 
bivorous and  carnivorous  animals. 

Among  the  herbivorous  the  musk-ox  is  the  foremost.  The  expedition 
depended  chiefly  upon  this  animal  for  its  food,  and  it  was  mainly  due  to  the 
fact  that  musk-ox  was  found  only  occasionally  on  the  north  coast,  and  in  a 
considerable  number  only  in  one  place  (in  one  fjord),  that  men  and  dogs 
suffered  so  much  from  hunger.  Why  the  musk-ox  preferred  this  one  place 
we  do  not  know.  The  vegetation  was  no  more  vigorous  in  the  musk-ox  fjord 
than  in  other  places ;  but  in  the  whole  district  it  was  so  sparse  that  probably 
the  limit  of  what  a  musk-ox  can  be  content  with  had  been  reached.  This  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  expedition  did  not  meet  with  any  calves. 

Wulff  examined  several  stomachs  of  musk-oxen,  and  always  found  them 
filled  with  twigs  of  willow  and,  to  a  less  degree,  with  leaves  of  anemone  and 
other  plants. 

Two  herbivorous  mammals  which  were  very  numerous  were  the  Arctic 
hare  and  the  little  Arctic  lemming.  The  former  of  these  played  an  important 
part  as  food  for  the  expedition  ;  the  latter  is  so  small — its  size  is  between  that 
of  a  mouse  and  a  rat — that  it  has  no  significance  as  food  for  men  and  dogs. 
The  fully  grown  Arctic  hare  is  white  all  the  year  round,  with  merely  a  slight 
dark  shade  on  the  head  ;  but  the  young  which  were  observed  in  the  beginning  of 
July  were  greyish-brown.  The  hare  was  common  everywhere,  and  lived  on 
various  plants ;  according  to  the  observations  made  by  the  Danmark  Expedition 
on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  it  was  especially  fond  of  the  roots  of  the  Arctic 
willow,  which  it  dug  up  with  its  forepaws  and  snout. 

The  little  greyish-brown  lemming  is  a  very  timid  and  nervous  animal,  which 
chiefly  keeps  to  its  subterranean  den,  where  it  hibernates  during  the  winter. 
In  some  places,  especially  where  vegetation  was  vigorous,  it  existed  in  great 
numbers,  though  it  was  not  often  seen,  because  of  its  timidity.  It  would 
occasionally  set  out  on  a  long  journey  ;  thus,  for  instance,  it  was  met  with  a 
few  times  out  on  the  fjord-ice.  Wulff  relates  a  very  funny  experience  on  the 
23rd  of  June  :  "  Several  kilometres  out  on  the  fjord-ice  I  met  a  small  lemming, 
quickly  trotting  along  across  the  immense  white  field  of  snow.  As  I  did  not 
298  " 


HERBACEOUS    PLANTS    WITH    ROSULATE    RADICLE    LEAVES 

The  withered  leaves  served  as  a  protection  for  the  new  leaves  and  flowers  when  they 
were  buds.  Above — on  the  lclt :  arctic  stock  {Heapius  paUasii) ;  on  the  right:  dande- 
lion [Taraxacum);  beneath  them  a  potentilla. 


WHITE    PUFF-BALLS    [CALVATIA)    AMONG    GRASS    AND    WILLOW    LEAVES 
Photographed  at  Disko  by  Dr.  Th.  Wulff. 


TYPES    OF    GRASSES    GROWING    IN    MOIST    PLACES 

[Eriophontm  Scheuckzeri,  Deschampsiu  c&spitosa  arctica,  Pleuropogon  sabinei) 
Two  of  them  have  long,  horizontally-growing  suckers. 


FLORA  AND  FAUNA  ON  THE  NORTH  COAST 

feel  disposed  to  go  far  out  of  my  way  for  the  sake  of  the  little  mite,  I  whistled, 
with  the  result  that  the  lemming  stopped  at  once.  Every  time  it  recommenced 
its  rolling  along,  like  a  fluffy  little  ball  of  wool,  I  whistled  and  made  it  stop. 
When  I  came  stamping  up  to  it  on  my  large  snowshoes,  the  Lilliputian  sat  up 
on  its  hind  legs,  spat  at  me,  and  showed  its  teeth.  The  little  wanderer  ended 
its  days  by  a  slight  knock  across  the  snout." 

Of  the  birds,  the  ptarmigan  is  most  common.  The  expedition  met  with  it 
wherever  it  went.  In  the  beginning  it  was  white,  but,  as  summer  advanced, 
first  the  ptarmigan  hen  and  later  on  the  cock  became  speckled  with  brown.  It 
subsisted  on  parts  of  plants ;  Wulff  found,  for  instance,  many  buds  of  the 
red  saxifrage  in  its  crop.  Evidently  the  ptarmigan  here  in  the  north  live  in 
couples — not  in  polygamy,  as  they  do  further  south — and  from  approximately 
the  middle  of  June  nests  with  eggs  were  found.  Young  were  seen  in  the 
latter  part  of  July. 

The  other  herbivorous  birds  which  the  expedition  saw  on  the  north  coast  of 
Greenland  were  migratory.  First  the  snow-bunting  appeared  ;  as  early  as  the 
24th  of  April  it  was  heard  twittering  when  the  expedition  was  on  its  way  to 
the  north  coast  (N.  Lat.  81°).  The  others  came  later  on.  The  swimmers 
were  :  The  brent-goose,  the  king-eider,  and  the  long-tailed  duck ;  of  these 
only  the  brent-goose  was  common;  it  was  seen  for  the  first  time  on  the  11th 
of  June — that  is,  during  the  first  days  of  spring. 

As  a  link  between  the  swimming  birds  and  the  carnivorous  animals  we 
may  put  down  the  waders,  which  live  on  small  animals  in  the  pools,  and  are 
also  truly  grateful  for  the  half-rotted  and  floating  parts  of  plants  amongst 
which  the  little  animals  are  found.  Of  these  the  most  common  were  the 
sandpipers  and  the  turnstones.  The  sandpipers  arrived  first,  being  seen  as 
earlj-  as  the  30th  of  May,  whilst  the  turnstone  was  not  observed  until  the 
10th  of  June.  About  the  1st  of  July  the  first  eggs  of  these  birds  were  found, 
and  on  the  20th  their  young  were  seen. 

Terns  and  gulls  are  carnivorous.  They  were  not  observed  very  frequently. 
The  tern  was  seen  in  the  middle  of  June,  the  gulls  (herring-gulls  and  ivory- 
gulls)  both  before  and  after  this  date.  Very  common  was  the  little  Arctic 
gull  with  its  elegant  bifurcate  tail  and  its  long  wings ;  it  arrived  on  the  9th  of 
June,  and  its  young  appeared  just  after  the  middle  of  July.  It  is  a  proper 
beast  of  prey  whose  food  mainly  consists,  to  judge  from  the  contents  of  its 
stomach,  of  the  little  lemming;  this  agrees  with  the  observations  of  the  Ban- 
mark  Expedition. 

But  the  worst  robber  amongst  the  birds  in  these  regions  is  the  snowy  owl, 
which  was  seen  occasionally,  and  the  nest  of  which  was  also  found.  Neither 
the  raven  nor  the  Icelandic  falcon  were  observed  on  the  north  coast  of  Green- 
land ;  but  no  doubt  both  birds  would  occasionally  pass  these  districts  on  their 
long  flights. 

The  carnivorous  mammals  are  generally  observed  singly  or  a  few  together ; 
there  is  not  sufficient  food  for  them  to  congregate  in  great  numbers.  The 
members  of  the  expedition  often  saw  the  white  Polar  wolf  slinking  about  at  a 
safe  distance  like  an  uncomfortable  reminder.  Also  the  Polar  fox  and  the 
ermine  are  occasionally  observed.  The  Polar  bear  seems  to  be  very  rare  on 
the  north  coast;  only  at  rare  intervals  were  its  tracks  found,  and  a  newly 
killed  young  seal  by  Dragon  Point  was  assumed  to  have  fallen  a  victim  to  it. 

As  the  sea  off  the  coast  and  in  the  fjords  is  permanently  frozen,  one  cannot 
expect  to  find  many  marine  animals.     There  were,  however,  several  seals  fre- 

299 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

quenting  the  lanes  along  the  coast.  As  Knud  Rasmussen  has  told  us,  they 
were  eagerly  hunted  by  the  expedition,  as  a  rule,  unfortunately,  without 
success,  as  the  shot  animals  sank  down  into  the  fresh  water  ;  the  freshness  of 
the  water  is  due  partly  to  the  afflux  of  water  from  land,  partly  to  the 
melting  ice. 

Their  food  consisted  of  sea-scorpions,  halibuts,  Polar  cod,  and  various 
animals  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

On  the  north  coast  of  Greenland,  contrary  to  other  Arctic  regions,  bird- 
cliffs  seemed  to  be  entirely  lacking.  Consequently  none  of  the  various  auks 
were  observed,  and  the  fulmar,  which  also  breeds  on  the  bird-cliffs,  was  seen 
only  once ;  the  three-toed  gull  was  not  seen  at  all. 

Of  lower  animals  the  insects  are  specially  noticeable.  Wulff  has  many 
notes  about  them.  Flies  and  gnats  were  most  numerous,  but  as  we  have 
already  mentioned  under  the  fertilization  of  flowers,  humblebees  and  butter- 
flies were  also  found.  Unfortunately,  one  knows  very  little  about  the  winter- 
ing of  these  insects ;  some  of  them  evidently  winter  as  fully  grown  insects, 
others  as  pupae  and  larvae,  and  others  probably  as  eggs.  It  is  remarkable  that 
a  fully  grown  insect  or  a  larva  is  able  to  resist  the  long  and  terribly  cold  winter. 
On  the  30th  of  May — the  first  day  of  a  positive  temperature  by  noon — 
Wulff  for  the  first  time  saw  gnats ;  evidently  they  had  hibernated  through  the 
winter,  and  then  been  revived  by  the  warm  rays  of  the  spring  sun. 

Half  a  score  of  days  later  (9th  of  June)  he  observed  big  flies  playing  and 
mating  on  the  canvas  of  the  tent.  They  had  probably  wintered  as  pupae. 
Their  eggs  were  subsequently  found  (25th  of  June)  in  great  numbers  on  the 
musk-ox  skins. 

A  large,  woolly,  yellowish-brown  larva  of  a  butterfly  was  observed  by  Wulff 
walking  in  the  snow  between  the  twigs  of  the  Arctic  willow  as  early  as  the 
3rd  of  June,  and  again  on  the  9th  of  June.  He  then  wrote  in  his  diary  : 
"  Does  it  winter  as  a  larva?  I  am  sure  it  does,  for  there  is  nothing  for  it  to 
eat;  also,  it  is  already  full-grown." 

A  month  later  (13th  of  July)  fully  developed  butterflies  are  seen  on  the 
flowers — reddish-brown  mother-of-pearl  butterflies.  Somewhat  earlier  (22nd  of 
June)  the  humblebees  appeared. 

Spiders  and  earth-mites  also  support  life  in  these  high  latitudes  ;  and  we 
must  not  forget  that  even  here  the  larger  animals  are  not  free  of  parasites  :  lice 
and  intestinal  worms  worry  the  mammals,  and  the  birds  have  their  louse-flies. 

Thus  quite  a  series  of  animals  exist  even  under  the  harsh  and  poor  condi- 
tions of  the  Polar  countries.  Their  organization  and  mode  of  life  are  each 
in  their  own  way  adapted  to  their  surroundings.  Birds  and  mammals  have 
their  animal  heat  and  their  thick  cover  of  feathers  or  hairs  wherewith  to  resist 
the  cold  ;  most  of  the  birds,  however,  migrate  to  the  south  during  the  coldest 
period. 

Most  of  the  mammals  and  those  of  the  birds  which,  like  the  ptarmigan 
and  the  snowy  owl,  remain  in  the  Arctic  regions,  are  white  in  winter  or  all 
the  year  round,  evidently  a  protective  likeness  to  the  surrounding  snow-fields. 

The  lower  animals  would  appear  to  be  adapted  to  the  Arctic  conditions  to  a 
far  smaller  degree ;  they  are  unable  to  withdraw  during  the  unfavourable 
period  as  do  the  migratory  birds,  and  they  remain  hibernating  through  the 
winter.  Their  power  of  resistance  must  be  due  to  internal  causes.  Im- 
movable and  frozen  rigid,  they  await  their  waking  up  to  a  brief  aerial  life  in 
the  light  Arctic  summer. 
300 


GEOLOGICAL   OBSERVATIONS 

By  LAUGE  KOCH 


I 

THE  districts  through  which  the  expedition  travelled  were,  from  a 
geological  point  of  view,  practically  unknown  ;  but  as  numerous  fossils 
had  been  found  in  Ellesmere  Land,  which  was  not  far  distant,  there  was 
reason  to  expect  interesting  work  for  the  geologist  in  North-West  Greenland. 

Almost  everywhere  in  Greenland  one  finds  that  the  coast — similarly  to  the 
Norwegian  and  Swedish  "  Skjargaard  "* — consists  of  gneiss.  This  was  also 
the  case  in  the  southern  part  of  the  districts  we  surveyed  right  up  to  Cape 
York.  The  regions  to  the  south  of  Cape  York  in  Melville  Bay  clearly  illus- 
trate what,  for  instance,  Norway  must  have  looked  like  in  the  Ice  Period  ;  only 
the  outmost  skerries  and  islets  are  free,  whilst  the  entire  coast  is  covered  by 
enormous  glaciers,  the  crevassed  surface  of  which  is  only  occasionally  broken 
by  steep  mountain-tops  which  push  through  the  ice  as  nunataks.  To  the 
north  of  Cape  York  the  land  is  less  glaciated.  The  edge  of  the  inland-ice  lies 
some  distance  into  the  country,  and  only  through  the  larger  valleys  do  glaciers 
push  down  to  the  coast.  Thereby  the  whole  landscape  changes  in  character, 
and  this  change  is  further  emphasized  by  the  fact  that  the  coast  consists  of 
quite  other  kinds  of  rock.  The  gneiss  which  was  found  south  of  Cape  York  is 
observed  also  in  several  places  right  up  to  Humboldt's  Glacier,  but  as  a  rule  it 
is  in  this  neighbourhood  covered  by  sand  and  limestone,  which  form  plateaux 
with  steep  cliffs  out  towards  the  coast. 

Even  at  a  distance  these  coastal  mountains  give  to  the  landscape  a  peculiar 
beauty.  One  sees  at  once  that  they  must  have  been  deposited  in  the  ocean, 
for  they  are  very  regularly  stratified.  The  single  strata  vary  in  colours,  some 
are  almost  white,  others  are  yellowish-grey,  pink  or  brown,  and  through  all 
these  strata  one  sees  in  many  places  black  veins  of  diabase.  The  diabase  once 
burst  through  the  layers  as  glowing  lava,  or  forced  its  way  between  them, 
and  now  lies  as  a  protective  cover  above  the  lower  layers.  This  fact  is  plainly 
visible  at  Thule,  where  the  upper  stratum  of  the  so-called  "  Camp  Mountain  " 
consists  of  a  diabasic  cover,  which  has  protected  the  underlying  sand  and 
limestone. 

If  one  examines  these  layers  more  closely,  one  finds  at  once  that  they 
must  have  been  deposited  in  shallow  water.  In  several  places  the  lowest  layers 
of  sandstone  are  seen  right  above  the  gneiss.  They  then  form  a  conglomerate 
with  greater  and  smaller  fragments  of  the  underlying  gneiss.  These  blocks 
are,  as  a  rule,  beautifully  rolled  and  polished,  like  pebbles.  Thus  the  lower 
layers  are  pure  beach  formations ;  but  also  the  superincumbent  sandstone  is 
deposited  in  shallow  water,  for  many  of  the  strata  are  beautifully  furrowed 
by  the  beat  of  the  waves,  as  we  see  it  nowadays  on  a  good  bathing  beach. 

*   "  Skjaergaard  "  :  the  belt  of  rocks  and  islands  girding  the  coast. — Trans. 

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GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

Being  deposited  on  it,  these  layers  of  sandstone  are,  of  course,  younger 
than  the  gneiss.  No  fossils  have  been  found  in  them,  and  it  is  therefore 
difficult  to  decide  their  age  ;  one  may,  however,  state  with  certainty  that  they 
are  older  than  almost  the  whole — probably  dating  from  the  very  earliest  part 
of  the  Silurian  Period. 

If  one  travels  northward  past  the  mighty  Humboldt's  Glacier  to  Washington 
Land,  the  landscape  again  changes  entirely  in  character.  Here  also  the  cliffs 
are  steep  and  stratified,  but  they  stand  like  a  vertical  wall  along  the  entire 
coast,  and  only  at  a  good  distance  from  the  coast  can  one  see  the  inland-ice 
in  the  background  above  the  mountains. 

These  districts  which,  looked  upon  as  a  landscape,  are  so  monotonous,  prove 
on  closer  examination  to  be  among  the  most  interesting  in  all  North  Greenland. 

Wherever  one  lands  under  the  steep  mountains  one  finds  stones  full  of 
fossils.  These  fossiliferous  strata  are  found  not  only  on  Washington  Land,  but 
they  also  form  a  broad  belt  of  plateaux  right  up  to  Peary  Land.  It  there- 
fore seems  natural  in  considering  these  formations  to  take  them  as  a  whole. 
This  chain  of  plateaux  mountains,  which  have  a  height  of  upwards  of  1,500 
metres,  forms  the  border  of  the  inland-ice  to  the  north.  Only  occasional 
narrow  valleys  cut  in  between  the  plateaux,  and  through  these  long,  almost 
horizontal,  glaciers  stretch  down  until  they  reach  the  sea. 

Examining  the  fossils  more  closely,  one  will  soon  discover  that  the  rocks 
may  be  divided  in  several  strata,  every  stratum  having  its  characteristic  fossils. 
One  will  further  find  that  these  strata  alternate  in  a  definite  succession  every- 
where in  the  north-west  of  Greenland. 

The  oldest  layers  are  found  in  the  southern  part  of  Washington  Land  and 
in  a  narrow  belt  on  Warming  Land  right  in  against  the  inland-ice.  The  barren 
plain  which  we  called  the  Midgard-Snake  consists  of  these  types  of  rock. 
In  this  place  the  layers  are  superincumbent  on  sandstone  with  diabase.  They 
are  of  dark  brown  limestone  with  sparse  remains  of  large  octopus ;  the  so-called 
orthoceratites,  consisting  of  long  tubes  divided  into  compartments,  sometimes 
straight  and  sometimes  spiral-formed.  One  sees  the  same  animal  forms  in 
flagstones  and  stair-stones. 

On  the  dark  brown  limestone  lies  a  mighty  series  of  grey  and  reddish  lime. 
It  is  mainly  these  layers  which  form  the  great  barrier  against  the  northern 
push  of  the  inland-ice.  At  a  distance  the  mountains  look  extraordinarily 
monumental ;  as  a  rule  they  have  almost  vertical  walls  which,  especially  when 
the  sun  is  shining  on  them,  take  on  a  beautiful  rust-red  colour.  Their  tops 
are  flat,  and  in  many  places  they  are  covered  by  a  level  ice-cap.  Very  peculiar 
are  the  deep  cloughs  and  canyons  winding  their  way  between  the  plateaux. 
Whether  these  cloughs  are  formed  by  glaciers  during  the  Ice  Period  is  rather 
doubtful  ;  it  would  seem  more  probable  that  they  were  present,  at  any  rate 
partly,  before  the  Ice  Period.  One  of  these  canyons,  the  Devil's  Cleft,  we 
passed  on  our  way  towards  the  inland-ice,  where  we  found  excellent  oppor- 
tunity to  examine  closely  the  red  limestone  through  which  the  clough  has 
cut  its  way  down. 

One  may  walk  for  a  long  time  without  discovering  fossils,  and  we  may 
say  that  these  strata  are,  on  the  whole,  poor  in  animal  remains  ;  but  suddenly 
one  comes  across  a  layer  so  rich  in  fossils  that  they  literally  make  up  the  entire 
layer.  They  consist  almost  solely  of  large  thick-shelled  brachiopods.  We 
found  such  a  layer  in  the  Devil's  Cleft ;  at  one  time  this  must  have  been  a 
place  situated  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  where  animal  life  has  been  as  rich 

302 


FOSSILIZED    ORTOCERATITE    FROM    WASHINGTON    LAND 


TRILOBITE    AND    BRACHIOPOD    FROM    WARMING    LAND 


CORAL    FROM    WASHINGTON    LAND 


TRILOBITE    AND    BRACHIOPOD    FROM    WARMING    LAND 


V 


\    ■ 


*S 


CORAL  FROM  WASHINGTON  LAND 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

as  on  an  oyster-bed.  Now  the  limestone  is  absolutely  barren,  no  plant  can 
find  nourishment  in  its  cracks,  no  sign  of  animal  life  was  to  be  discovered,  and 
one  finds  oneself  wondering  why  the  inland-ice,  which  from  both  sides  sends 
its  glaciers  right  to  the  edge,  does  not  fling  down  its  masses  of  ice,  filling  up 
the  clough. 

When  these  layers  were  formed  there  must  have  been  variable  conditions  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  orthoceratites  did  not  live  here  whilst  the  red 
limestone  was  deposited,  and  only  in  occasional  places  did  favourable  conditions 
for  animal  life  exist ;  but  this  animal  life  was  then  very  rich,  though  it  soon 
died  out  again  and  was  covered  by  a  stratum  void  of  fossils. 

The  upper  layers  of  this  limestone,  however,  point  to  somewhat  different 
conditions.  Between  the  brachiopods  occasional  corals  are  found,  becoming 
increasingly  numerous  upwards  at  the  same  time  as  the  large,  thick-shelled 
brachiopods  become  rarer ;  ultimately  one  sees  no  more  of  them,  the  rock 
becomes  bluish-grey,  and  the  corals  dominate. 

The  succeeding  layers  are  remarkable  for  their  great  wealth  of  animal  life. 
They  are  especially  easy  to  find  in  Washington  Land.  Now  one  stands  on 
almost  a  coral  reef,  now  the  many-armed  crinoidea  put  their  stamp  on  the  stones, 
and  in  between  the  branches  of  the  corals  lie  remains  of  innumerable  other 
organisms.  The  Crustacea  are  represented  by  trilobites,  by  octopus,  by  ortho- 
ceratites ;  further,  there  are  brachiopods,  mussels,  snails,  bryozoa,  and  fungi. 
The  corals  are  present  in  many  varieties ;  some  are  cup-formed,  others  are 
sausage-shaped  or  ball-shaped,  others,  again,  are  flat  or  look  like  a  plate. 

But  the  period  of  the  corals  also  comes  to  an  end.  The  bluish-grey  layers 
with  the  beautiful  branches  of  coral  suddenly  stop,  and  are  succeeded  by  black 
strata  of  schist,  in  which  at  the  first  glance  no  animal  remains  can  be  seen  ; 
these  layers  look  very  much  like  slate-stone.  But  if  one  examines  them 
closely  one  will  find  some  peculiar  shapes  which  look  as  if  they  had  been 
traced  on  the  slate  with  varnish.  Now  they  are  small,  saw-toothed  sticks, 
now  they  are  rolled  up  and  have  long  radiate  beams  on  the  outer  side  ;  they 
are  the  so-called  graptolites,  an  animal  group  long  ago  extinct,  which  does  not 
appear  to  have  any  near  kindred  amongst  now  existing  animal  forms. 

The  black  schists  are  very  thin  ;  towards  the  top  they  become  richer  in 
lime  and  at  the  same  time  the  trilobites  again  appear ;  but  they  are  chiefly  of 
forms  different  to  those  in  the  coral  limestone,  and  the  same  holds  good  for 
the  brachiopods  and  the  orthoceratites.  They  are  mainly  small,  but  of  many 
varieties,  and  it  is  as  if  animal  life  for  the  last  time  flares  up  before  it  dis- 
appears. If  one  follows  the  succession  of  layers  upwards,  the  slaty  lime- 
stone rather  abruptly  becomes  mixed  with  sand,  and  then  merges  into  pure 
coarse  sandstone  without  fossils. 

This  sandstone  crumbles  easily,  wherefore  landscapes  consisting  of  this 
stone  appear  in  the  shape  of  low  plains  with  rounded  forms.  A  whole  series  of 
low  districts  are  therefore  to  be  found  to  the  north  of  the  large  fossiliferous 
plateaux  right  from  Hall  Basin  and  almost  to  Peary  Land. 

With  this  the  North  Greenlandic  series  is  finished.  All  the  fossiliferous 
strata  belong  to  the  Silurian  Period.  The  coarse  sandstone  shows  that  the 
sea  again  becomes  shallow,  and  one  gets  the  explanation  of  this  if  one  turns 
towards  the  north,  where  the  plains  are  bordered  by  an  enormous  mountain 
chain. 

All  the  layers  deposited  in  the  sea,  right  from  the  red  sandstone,  the  dark 
brown  and  the  reddish-grey  limestone,  to  the  coral  lime,  the  black  schist,  the 

303 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

slaty  limestone,  and  finally  the  sandstone,  appeared  as  almost  horizontal  strata, 
which  sloped  only  faintly  towards  the  north-west.  No  violent  catastrophes 
of  nature  have,  in  the  course  of  time,  altered  their  original  stratification  ;  they 
lie  to  this  day  as  they  were  formed  on  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  in  olden  times. 
Therefore  the  landscapes  in  these  regions  are  very  monotonous.  The  colour 
and  the  height  of  the  rocks  may  vary,  but  the  steep  coastal  mountains,  which 
at  their  tops  form  flat  plateaux,  are  a  feature  repeated  again  and  again  in  these 
regions. 

If  one  turns  one's  eyes  to  the  north,  towards  the  mountain  chain,  one 
sees  even  at  a  distance  that  the  landscape  is  quite  a  different  one.  The 
plateaux  are  succeeded  by  a  wild  Alpine  country.  The  flat  glaciers,  which  in 
appearance  resemble  the  inland-ice,  have  disappeared,  and  the  country  is  almost 
free  of  ice ;  only  occasionally  is  a  quite  small  glacier  hidden  away  in  some 
narrow  valley. 

A  glance  at  the  map  shows  that  all  the  north  coast  of  Greenland  is  formed 
by  this  mountain  chain.  It  runs,  however,  not  at  all  as  a  continuous  ridge 
along  the  coast.  In  reality  there  are  many  ridges  between  which  valleys  and 
fjords  cut  in ;  further,  the  mountains  are  penetrated  again  and  again  by  fjords 
and  sounds,  so  that  now  only  the  remains  are  left  of  a  once  much  more  enor- 
mous mountain  chain.  Especially  in  the  fjords,  which  cut  across  the  line  of 
mountains,  there  is  a  good  opportunity  to  examine  what  the  inside  of  a  moun- 
tain chain  like  this  looks  like.  The  inland-ice,  which  during  the  Ice  Period 
sent  its  glaciers  out  through  these  fjords,  has  polished  the  coastal  mountains, 
which  now  stand  without  vegetation  as  long  profiles  in  which  one  can  see 
exceedingly  clearly  how  the  strata  lie. 

One  sees  at  once  that  the  mountain  chain  has  arisen  by  the  layers,  which 
were  once  horizontal,  being  pushed  up  into  enormous  folds  by  pressure  from 
the  sides.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  mountain  chain  one  can  see  how  the 
coarse  sandstone,  which  on  the  plains  lies  horizontally,  gradually  assumes  a 
more  wavelike  surface,  finally  merging  into  the  great  folds  of  the  central  sec- 
tion of  the  mountain  chain.  Upon  closer  examination  one  will  probably  also 
find  the  fossiliferous  layers  pressed  up,  as  these  must  be  assumed  to  stretch  out 
beneath  the  sandstone  under  the  surface  of  the  sea.  These  pressed  and  folded 
strata  have  been  subjected  to  such  an  enormous  pressure  that  they  are  to  a 
greater  or  smaller  degree  transformed  and  difficult  to  recognize,  especially  as 
nearly  all  the  fossils  presumably  have  been  crushed  during  the  folding. 

In  some  places  the  layers  bend  and  wind  so  strongly  that  they  resemble 
the  entrails  of  an  animal ;  in  other  places  a  mountain  may  consist  of  one 
single  or  a  couple  of  huge  folds.  The  peculiar  fact  is  then  observed  that  that 
which  was  once  a  valley  is  now  a  mountain-top,  and  a  place  where  long  ago  a 
mountain  towered  up  has  now  turned  into  a  valley.  The  explanation  is  very 
simple.  When  a  stratum  is  pushed  upward,  in  this  case  when  it  forms  a 
mountain-top,  the  upper  layers  of  the  top  will,  as  it  were,  be  torn  apart,  and 
thereby  lose  a  great  deal  of  their  power  of  resistance.  The  opposite  takes  place 
when  a  layer,  originally  horizontal,  is  pushed  down,  forming  a  valley.  In  the 
hollow  the  layers  will  be  pressed  together,  thereby  adding  to  their  power  of 
resistance,  so  that  the  bottom  of  the  valley  will  become  hard.  When  a  newly 
formed  mountain  chain  like  this  begins  to  disintegrate,  the  tops  will  quickly 
crumble,  first  becoming  level,  then  turning  into  valleys,  whilst  the  original 
valleys,  with  their  bottoms  consisting  of  hard  rock,  will  remain  as  mountain- 
tops.     When  from  a   high   mountain  one  stands  looking  across  nearly   2,000 

304 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

metres  high  cliffs,  which  were  originally  the  bottoms  of  large  valleys,  and  in 
imagination  attempts  to  reconstruct  the  original  mountain-tops  which  have 
now  disappeared,  one  understands  what  enormous  periods  of  time  must  have 
elapsed  before  this  transformation  was  finished.  However,  it  is  only  very  old 
mountain  chains  which  look  like  these. 

When  one  considers  these  conditions  it  is  easier  to  understand  why  the 
mountain  chain  is  penetrated  both  lengthwise  and  crosswise  by  fjords  and 
sounds.  In  reality  all  the  islands  along  Greenland's  north  coast  are  frag- 
ments of  a  folded  chain  which  was  once  far  mightier. 

It  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  fix  in  years  the  age  of  this  mountain 
chain ;  there  is  no  means  whereby  one  could  measure  the  time  which  has 
elapsed  since  then.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  decide  the  relative  age  of  the 
folding.  The  statements  we  have  already  made  will  have  made  it  clear  that 
the  mountain  chain  must  be  younger  than  the  coarse  sandstone,  which  to  the 
south  had  a  horizontal  position,  and  consequently  must  have  been  deposited 
before  the  folding  commenced.  The  sandstone,  which  was  superincumbent  on 
the  slaty  limestone  and  the  black  schist  with  the  graptolites,  must  therefore  be 
younger  than  these  strata,  and  this  gives  us  a  point  on  which  to  fix.  From 
other  regions  of  the  earth  we  know  that  the  graptolites  found  in  the  slaty  lime- 
stone lived  in  the  very  earliest  part  of  the  Silurian  Period.  Consequently  the 
coarse  sandstone  must  belong  to  the  Devonian  Period,  and  the  folding  must 
therefore  be  younger  than  the  beginning  of  this.  From  a  previous  expedition 
it  is  known  that,  to  the  north  of  the  folding,  horizontal  strata  from  the 
Devonian  Period  are  to  be  found,  and  above  them  strata  from  the  Carboniferous 
Period.  The  mountain  chain  must  thus  have  arisen  during  the  first  half  of 
the  Devonian  Period. 

During  an  Arctic  sledge  journey,  when  each  day  brings  a  crowd  of  new 
impressions,  there  is  seldom  an  opportunity  to  sit  down  and  look  at  matters 
as  a  whole.  One  examines  the  landscape  at  a  distance  through  field-glasses 
and  makes  a  guess  at  what  kind  of  rock  went  to  the  building  of  the  districts 
through  which  one  passes,  and  when  one  stops  it  is  the  fossils  and  the  rocks 
which  are  examined  closely  through  a  magnifying-glass.  One  therefore 
returns  from  such  a  journey  with  a  mass  of  details  which  are  only  gradually 
brought  together  so  that  the  larger  contours  appear. 

However  large  and  beautiful  the  view  from  one  of  the  highest  tops  of  the 
folded  chain  may  be,  one  is  merely  looking  at  a  slight  section  of  the  whole 
chain,  and  one  must  therefore  in  imagination  attempt  to  make  a  connected 
picture  of  the  entire  folding  in  order  to  find  out  whether  other  regions  have 
also  been  subjected  to  this  enormous  catastrophe  of  nature. 

If  one  follows  the  westward  direction  of  the  mountain  chain,  one  finds  that 
its  continuation  is  a  large  mountain  chain  in  Grinnell  Land  known  from  earlier 
times,  the  so-called  "Albert  and  Victoria  "  mountains.  Down  towards  Elles- 
mere  Land  the  foldings  gradually  disappear.  If  this  section  of  the  folding  is 
included,  the  Greenlandic  mountain  chain  has  a  length  of  approximately  1,000 
kilometres — in  other  words,  it  is  as  long  as  the  Caucasus. 

If  the  direction  of  the  mountain  chain  is  followed  eastward  we  find  as  its 
continuation  a  submarine  ridge  across  to  Spitsbergen,  and  in  continuation  of 
this  ridge  there  is  on  Spitzbergen  a  large  folded  chain,  of  the  very  same  age 
as  the  one  in  Greenland.  The  mountain  chain  on  Spitzbergen,  however,  is 
merely  a  part  of  a  large  system  of  folds  which  via  Bear  Island  runs  down  to 
the  north  of  Norway,  and  thence  forms  the  whole  of  the  Scandinavian  mountain 
U  30.) 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

chain  which  continues  through  Scotland.  This  mountain  chain,  which  is  called 
the  Caledonian  Folding,  has  up  to  the  present  been  known  only  east  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  from  Scotland  to  Spitzbergen.  The  most  important  geological 
discovery  of  the  Expedition  is  that  it  succeeded  in  pointing  out  the  Greenlandic 
section  of  the  Caledonian  Folding  to  the  west  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

As  already  mentioned,  the  North  Greenlandic  series  of  strata  ended  in 
coarse  sandstone,  which  during  the  Devonian  Period  was  then  folded  up  into 
the  mountain  chain.  What  subsequently  happened  is  not  known  with  certainty. 
Great  stretches  of  North  Greenland,  and  first  and  foremost  the  mountain 
chain,  have  during  part  of  the  Mesozoic  Period  been  raised  above  the  sea-level, 
and  during  this  period  the  mountain  chain  became  constantly  lower ;  but  no 
fossiliferous  strata  have  been  preserved,  so  one  must  fall  back  on  hypotheses 
regarding  the  conditions.  During  the  Tertiary  Period  there  must  certainly 
have  been  land  with  semitropical  forests  here,  for  remains  of  such  are  to  be 
found  on  Grant  Land,  which  lies  right  opposite. 

Then  the  Ice  Period  came.  It  spread  its  ice  masses  across  practically  the 
whole  of  North  Greenland.  At  any  rate  it  brought  blocks  containing  Silurian 
fossils  up  to  some  of  the  highest  summits  of  the  mountain  chain.  The  inland- 
ice  has  now,  especially  to  the  west,  receded  about  100  kilometres,  and  although 
this  stretch  of  time  since  the  Ice  Period  is  so  short,  in  comparison  to  the 
periods  already  mentioned,  many  changes  have  nevertheless  taken  place  in  the 
North  Greenlandic  landscape  since  the  Ice  Period.  During  a  certain  period 
North  Greenland  was  lying  at  least  210  metres  lower  than  now,  and  large 
sections  of  the  plains  which  now  consist  of  the  coarse  sandstone  were  then 
lying  under  the  surface  of  the  ocean.  At  that  time  there  were  many  more 
fjords  and  sounds  on  the  north  coast.  We  may  state  with  certainty  that 
subsequently  the  climate  was  not  colder  than  it  is  now,  as  the  glaciers  have 
not  shot  out  across  the  old  sea  margins  which  one  comes  across  more  than 
200  metres  inland.  Right  up  to  a  height  of  135  metres  one  finds  shells  of 
mussels  from  that  time,  all  of  them  forms  which  at  present  exist  in  the  same 
neighbourhood. 

II 

This  description  of  the  development  of  the  North  Greenlandic  landscape 
would  be  incomplete  if  one  did  not  finally  mention  the  youngest  and  one  of 
the  most  powerful  of  the  series  of  strata — i.e.,  the  inland-ice. 

It  is  well  known  that  almost  the  whole  of  North  and  Middle  Europe  during 
the  Ice  Period  was  covered  by  a  connected  mass  of  ice,  which,  like  a  shield, 
arched  its  back  from  Scandinavia  out  across  the  surrounding  countries.  This 
was  also  the  case  with  the  whole  of  Canada  and  the  northern  part  of  the 
United  States.  In  Greenland  the  ice  has  remained,  one  is  yet  in  the  midst  of 
the  Ice  Period,  and  a  journey  from  the  south  of  Greenland  towards  the  north 
is  like  experiencing  anew  the  coming  of  the  Ice  Period. 

If  the  journey  is  commenced  at  Godthaab  or  Holstenborg  there  is  still 
100  kilometres  from  the  coast  to  the  inland-ice,  and  even  from  the  highest 
coastal  mountains  one  cannot  as  a  rule  see  it.  Wild,  riven  mountains  form 
the  landscape,  and  occasionally  the  sun  is  reflected  in  the  shiny  surface  of  a 
glacier,  or  shines  on  the  snowdrift,  which  is  so  big  that  it  does  not  melt  in 
the  short  summer. 

Such  a  snowdrift  may  be  the  beginning  of  an  Ice  Period.  If  a  succession 
of  years  come  with  much  precipitation  or  cold  summers  the  snowdrift  will  grow 

306 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

bigger.     The  snow  will  be  pressed  into  ice,  the  whole  thing  begins  slowly  to 
slip  and  float  down  a  mountain-side,  and  there  one  has  a  glacier. 

If  one  travels  northward  one  comes  to  neighbourhoods  which  are  nearer  to 
the  state  of  the  Ice  Period  than  are  the  districts  in  South  Greenland.  First 
one  will  see  Disko  Island,  which,  with  its  large  lava  plateaux  carrying  on  their 
heights  a  flat  glacier  cap,  reminds  one  very  much  of  the  inner  regions  of 
Iceland.  To  the  north  lies  the  peninsula  Niigssuaq,  where  in  many  places  one 
might  well  believe  oneself  removed  to  the  Alps,  as  innumerable  long,  narrow 
valley-glaciers  shoot  down  from  a  height  of  nearly  2,000  metres  towards  some 
large  plains  in  the  interior  of  the  peninsula.  Finally  there  is  the  Bay  of 
Umanaq,  which  is  a  slice  of  Spitzbergen  magnified  and  beautified. 

The  journey  from  Godthaab  to  this  point  has  already  been  a  long  one — as 
far  as  from  Copenhagen  to  Switzerland — and  a  large  edition  of  all  Europe's 
glacier-world  has  passed  in  review  before  the  traveller;  and  still  they  were  all 
merely  local  glaciers  independent  of  the  inland-ice,  which  we  have  not  yet 
seen.  First  in  the  most  northerly  of  the  Danish  districts,  Upernivik,  one  gets 
from  the  outer  coast  the  right  impression  of  it. 

Once  it  was  all  merely  a  snowdrift  which  did  not  melt  during  a  cold 
summer ;  then  it  was  a  small  glacier  which  lay  hidden  in  a  valley — a  glacier 
which  grew,  spread  out,  and  filled  the  valley,  merged  into  other  glaciers, 
reached  the  ocean,  and  put  great  icebergs  into  the  water.  And  the  glacier 
increased  constantly ;  the  low  land  was  quite  hidden,  as  were  also  the  low 
mountains.  The  ice  grew  up  round  the  highest  summits  of  the  mountains, 
the  lee  Period  had  set  in,  all  land  had  disappeared,  and  the  perfectly  even 
surface  of  the  ice  did  not  show  a  trace  of  the  mountains  and  the  valleys  which 
it  covered. 

Thus  the  Ice  Period  arose,  and  the  journey  from  Upernivik  to  Melville  Bay 
represents  the  last  chapters  of  this  history.  The  land  in  front  of  the  ice 
becomes  increasingly  narrow ;  every  valley  is  filled  with  ice.  Large  glaciers 
shoot  out  between  and  across  islands  and  skerries  ;  near  the  Devil's  Thumb  the 
coast  consists  as  much  of  ice  as  of  land,  and  north  of  this  point  only  occasional 
small  islands  or  nunataks  push  up.  For  miles  the  coast  is  one  continuous  wall 
of  ice. 

If  one  travels  by  sledge  one  may  find  that  the  ocean-ice  by  Cape  York  is 
broken  ;  one  must  then  travel  for  about  100  kilometres  across  the  inland-ice 
before  one  reaches  Thule. 

Only  the  man  who  has  travelled  for  weeks  day  after  day  along  the  inland- 
ice  without  seeing  land  can  rightly  appreciate  the  nature  of  the  Ice  Period. 
The  first  thing  which  impresses  one  is  the  enormous  dimensions  with  which  one 
must  reckon.  The  landscapes,  which  with  their  big  fjords  and  huge  moun- 
tains seemed  so  large  from  the  sea,  now  lie  far  beneath  the  spectator  as  narrow 
rims  of  land,  quickly  disappearing  to  give  room  for  a  perfectly  even  snow- 
plain.  A  journey  across  this  from  north  to  south  would  be  as  long  as  from 
Copenhagen  to  the  Sahara,  and  during  this  journey  the  landscape  would  not 
alter  for  a  single  instant.  Nowhere  would  one  see  land ;  infinite  as  the  sea  lies 
this  snow-field,  and  life  is  represented  neither  by  animal  nor  plant.  Even  the 
Sahara  has  its  oases  between  which  men  and  animals  move  about ;  but  here 
is  nothing  but  snow — this  is  the  region  on  earth  most  inimical  to  life. 

In  the  central  parts  of  Greenland  it  never  rains,  as  the  temperature  there 
is  permanently  below  minus  20°  C,  but  it  is  not  yet  quite  clear  in  which 
seasons  the  snow  falls  here.     All   information  points  to  the  probability  that 

307 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

a  tract  exists  there  where  wind  is  rare  ;  the  snow  is  very  loose.  But  such  an 
enormous  surface  of  snow  will,  of  course,  lower  the  temperature  of  the  air.  It 
thus  becomes  heavier ;  it  sinks  and  presses  from  the  centre  across  the  ice  in 
all  directions.  Consequently,  at  the  edge  of  the  inland-ice,  there  is  nearly 
always  a  wind  from  Central  Greenland. 

The  edge  of  the  inland-ice  varies  very  much.  If  the  ice  covers  an  uneven 
Alpine  landscape  one  will  find  in  the  border  zone  hills  and  valleys,  with 
streams  and  lakes  on  the  surface  of  the  ice.  Occasionally  a  mountain-ridge 
or  a  valley  may  be  followed  for  many  kilometres  into  the  inland-ice.  In  such 
places,  where  the  underlying  ground  is  uneven,  or  where  the  ice  is  in  strong 
motion,  the  ill-famed  crevasses  arise ;  these,  then,  are  only  met  with  near  the 
edge  of  the  inland-ice. 

If  the  land  in  front  of  and  beneath  the  ice  is  flat,  the  surface  will,  as  a  rule, 
be  even  and  free  of  crevasses.  This  is  the  case  in  the  most  northerly  parts  of 
Greenland. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  the  inland-ice  consists  of  glaciers  which 
have  merged  into  each  other ;  nearly  all  of  them  shoot  out  towards  the  sea, 
where  they  form  icebergs  when  greater  or  bigger  blocks  are  thrown  off  and 
float  away.  The  lower  layers  of  such  a  glacier  are  often  mixed  with  soil  and 
stones,  which  it  has  ploughed  up  into  itself  on  its  way  across  the  underlying 
ground.  It  is  well  known  that  all  the  soil  of  Denmark  has  been  carried  down 
from  Scandinavia  by  the  inland-ice — a  pretty  example  of  the  quantities  which 
the  inland-ice  is  able  to  carry  with  it. 

When  a  glacier  reaches  the  sea,  greater  or  larger  icebergs  will,  as  already 
mentioned,  be  set  free  and  float  away.  In  several  places  of  Southern  Green- 
land this  may  take  place  unhampered,  as  the  sea  in  front  of  the  glacier  is  never 
covered  by  ice.  But  in  Northern  Greenland  the  fjords  and  parts  of  the  ocean 
are  covered  every  winter,  and  this  prevents  the  icebergs  from  floating  away 
from  the  glacier.  Certain  particularly  strong  and  large  glaciers,  as,  for 
instance,  the  ice  stream  of  Jakobshavn,  are,  however,  all  through  the  winter 
capable  of  bursting  the  ice  cover ;  but  these  are  exceptions,  and  as  a  rule  there 
are  towards  the  spring  in  North  Greenland  a  closely  packed  mass  of  ice  blocks 
collected  in  front  of  the  glacier ;  these  float  away  when  the  ocean-ice  in  front 
of  them  melts.  The  further  north  one  goes  the  longer  the  ocean-ice  remains 
lying,  and  the  broader  is,  consequently,  the  belt  of  icebergs  in  front  of  the 
glacier. 

In  the  fjord  north  of  Thule  the  ocean-ice  lies  from  October  to  July,  and 
the  great  Moltke  Glacier  by  the  head  of  Wolstenholme  Fjord  has,  in  the  spring, 
a  belt  of  closely  packed  ice  in  front  of  it,  which  may  be  a  couple  of  kilometres 
broad.  When  the  ocean-ice  drifts  away  in  the  beginning  of  July,  the  glacier- 
ice  is  so  firmly  packed  together  that  it  remains  lying,  and  not  until  the  early 
part  of  August  does  the  ice  split  with  a  mighty  roar,  and  the  whole  fjord  is 
covered  with  pieces  of  ice. 

On  the  north  coast  of  Greenland  the  ocean-ice  does  not  drift  out  from  the 
fjords  ;  thus  the  icebergs  are  also  unable  to  float  away,  wherefore,  as  a  rule, 
one  meets  with  them  here.  The  belt  of  icebergs  in  front  of  the  glacier 
remains  lying  over  the  summer ;  it  becomes  constantly  more  firmly  pressed 
together ;  at  the  top  it  melts  to  the  same  degree  as  does  the  glacier  mass 
behind  it,  and  finally  it  is  no  longer  a  collection  of  loose  pieces  of  ice,  but  one 
huge  block,  which  increasingly  broadens  and  is  connected  with  the  glacier 
behind  ;  in  other  words,  it  has  become  the  foremost  floating  part  of  the  glacier, 
308 


TAIL  SHELL    OF   A    TRILOBITE    FROM    WASHINGTON'    LAND 


1000,- 


Metres  above  the  sea-level 


50C 


100 


Warm  air 


"/ 


/ 


.'  Cold  air  above  the  ocean-ice 


-f     0'   »1" 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

and  in  this  way  arises  the  so-called  floating  inland-ice,  which,  in  the  Northern 
Hemisphere,  is  only  known  in  the  northern  extremity  of  Greenland. 

The  surface  of  the  ocean-ice  in  front  of  the  glacier  is  in  the  course  of  the 
summer  subjected  to  exactly  the  same  degree  of  melting  as  the  floating  inland- 
ice,  which,  because  of  this  very  melting,  has  become  jnireaeingli.-  thinner 
towards  the  point.  The  result  is  that  the  outermost  paflG»£_ilie.  glacier-ice  and 
the  ocean-ice  assume  an  extraordinary  similarity  ;  they  merge  into  each  other, 
and  in  certain  fjords — for  instance,  Victoria  Fjord — there  is  on  the  whole  no 
definite  line  of  demarcation  between  the  ocean-ice  and  the  glacier-ice  as  they 
merge  evenly  into  each  other. 

To  understand  this  question  one  must  examine  the  conditions  of  summer 
here  in  the  most  northerly  regions  of  the  world,  bounded  to  the  south  by  the 
entire  inland-ice  and  to  the  north  by  the  permanent  ice  cover  of  the  Polar 
Sea.  In  the  following  we  will  attempt  to  describe  the  climate  of  North  Green- 
land and  its  relation  to  the  inland-ice. 

The  whole  of  South  Greenland  receives  sunlight  by  noontime  of  the 
shortest  day  of  the  year.  The  rays  of  the  sun  do  not,  however,  reach  to 
Holstenborg  on  that  day  ;  only  on  the  following  day  does  it  show  above  the 
horizon,  and  for  every  succeeding  day  it  sends  its  rays  further  northward, 
putting  an  end  to  the  dark  period.  In  the  course  of  January  the  sun  reaches 
the  whole  of  Danish  Greenland,  with  the  exception  of  Upernivik;  in  the 
course  of  February  it  reaches  the  Cape  York  district,  and  not  until  March 
does  it  shine  on  the  mountains  of  Peary  Land,  after  a  dark  period  of 
nearly  four  months.  During  the  latter  half  of  the  dark  period,  in  January 
and  February,  and  also  in  March,  the  temperature  has  been  down  to  about 
minus  40°  C.  the  whole  time.  In  the  beginning  of  April  the  midnight  sun 
commences,  but  the  orbit  of  the  sun  is  so  flat  in  these  latitudes  during  this 
month  that  its  power  is  only  slight.  The  air  is  warmed  up  to  about  minus 
23°  C,  but  by  the  1st  of  May  the  land  still  lies  in  its  winter  state.  Tn  the 
middle  of  May  the  first  sign  of  spring  is  apparent,  as  snow-flakes  lying  on 
stones  which  turn  towards  the  sun  evaporate,  and  occasionally  even  a  drop  of 
water  may  be  observed.  A  puff  of  wind,  and  it  is  forthwith  once  more 
turned  into  ice ;  but  a  moment  after  it  reappears,  and  the  patch  of  snow  on 
the  stone  has  become  slightly  smaller.  In  the  beginning  this  melting  and 
evaporation  take  place  to  a  very  small  extent,  but  by  the  middle  of  May  the 
development  becomes  more  rapid.  By  noon  the  sun  shines  brilliantly  on  the 
mountains,  which  are  still  entirely  covered  with  snow  ;  during  the  afternoon 
a  fog  is  formed  round  the  highest  summits,  spreading  more  and  more;  in  the 
evening  it  has  become  thick,  and  a  fine  layer  of  snow  crystals  falls  on  ice  and 
land.  This  is  part  of  the  snow  which  evaporated  at  noon.  The  next  day  the 
sun  again  gains  in  strength ;  on  the  mountain-side,  where  its  rays  fall  almost 
vertically,  it  makes  light  work  of  the  loose  snow  crystals  which  have  fallen 
during  the  night ;  they  evaporate  rapidly,  and  the  evaporation  of  the  firmer 
snow  masses  then  continues. 

The  sun,  however,  has  hardly  any  power  on  the  horizontal  ocean-ice ;  its 
position  is  so  low  that  the  rays  fall  obliquely,  wherefore  the  snow  crystals 
which  fell  during  the  night  remain  lying  and  do  not  evaporate.  So  in  the 
month  of  May  one  may  see  snow-bare  patches  on  land  becoming  increasingly 
larger,  at  the  same  time  as  sledge  tracks  on  the  ocean-ice  slowly  but  surely 
are  snowed  under.  In  this  way  quite  considerable  quantities  of  snow  are 
transferred  from  the  land  to  the  ocean-ice.     Naturally,  during  this  period  fogs 

309 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

are  very  frequent ;  during  our  journey  we  had  onl}-  five  quite  clear  days  out 
of  the  four  weeks  about  the  1st  of  June. 

The  whole  of  this  development  has  taken  place  under  a  temperature  of 
between  minus  10°  C.  and  zero.  Simultaneously  as  the  temperature  becomes 
positive,  about  the  middle  of  June,  the  fog  ceases,  as  the  snow  is  no  longer 
transformed  into  steam,  but  begins  to  flow  down  the  mountain-sides  as  water. 
The  first  running  water  was  observed  on  the  15th  of  June,  and  with  that  the 
spring  thaw  on  land  had  set  in  in  earnest. 

But  the  ocean-ice  still  remains  in  its  winter  state,  covered  by  a  thick  layer 
of  loose  snow.  During  the  first  days  of  thaw  this  snow  falls  together,  becom- 
ing firm  and  hard,  and  by  Midsummer  Day  one  may  still  find  firm  winter  going 
for  the  sledges  on  the  sea. 

The  air  becomes  increasingly  warmer  and  about  the  1st  of  July  the 
thawing  of  the  ocean-ice  commences.  It  takes  place  with  surprising  rapidity. 
In  the  morning  the  snow  is  still  rather  firm,  in  the  evening  it  is  soft,  and  on 
the  next  day  there  is  slush  in  all  hollows  ;  a  few  days  later  all  the  snow  has 
melted,  forming  pools  and  lakes  on  top  of  the  ice.  The  thaw  on  the  ocean- 
ice  is  over  in  about  a  week,  so  that  there  is  only  a  slight  degree  of  melting  in 
the  course  of  a  summer.  The  water  in  the  lakes  on  the  ice  is,  of  course, 
0°  C,  and  the  low  sun  is  only  able  to  melt  the  snow  where  it  shines  directly 
on  it.  As  we  all  know,  a  certain  amount  of  heat  is  used  up  by  the  melting 
process,  so  that  the  air  immediately  above  the  ice  becomes  cooler ;  this  cooling 
is  occasionally  so  great  that  a  thin  layer  of  ice  is  formed  on  the  lakes.  It  is 
obvious  that  it  cannot  be  any  melting  on  a  large  scale  which  takes  place  during 
July  and  the  first  half  of  August  on  the  ocean-ice.  In  the  latter  half  of 
August  the  melting  stops,  the  lakes  are  again  covered  with  ice,  and  already 
by  the  middle  of  September  they  are  frozen  to  the  bottom. 

Such  is  the  summer  on  the  ocean-ice  and  along  the  coast ;  but  if  one  goes 
up  into  the  mountains  on  land  one  soon  discovers  that  the  development  is  quite 
different  there.  The  first  thing  one  observes  is  the  drought  which  prevails ; 
large  stretches  lie  absolutely  dried  up,  and  one  notices  at  once  that  nearly  all 
the  snow  has  evaporated  while  the  temperature  was  yet  below  zero.  This  will 
be  understood  more  easily  if  one  takes  into  consideration  that  the  downfall  is 
only  one-sixth  of  the  downfall  in  Denmark.  Water  running  along  the  ground, 
which  is  so  common  further  towards  the  south,  is  almost  absent  here.  It  is 
only  under  the  glaciers  and  the  snowdrifts  that  one  finds  water,  and  in  these 
places  is  vegetation. 

It  is  also  quickly  noticed  that  in  July  it  becomes  warmer  as  one  ascends 
from  the  coast.  In  order  to  examine  this  peculiar  condition,  it  was  decided 
that  Knud  Rasmussen  and  Wulff  should  take  the  temperature  on  the  coast 
every  hour  for  twenty-four  consecutive  hours,  whilst  I  was  to  ascend  a 
thousand  metres  high  mountain,  examining  the  warm  layer  of  air  which  must 
evidently  exist.  We  chose  a  steep  coastal  mountain  by  Dragon  Point  which 
was  990  metres.  I  commenced  the  ascent  on  the  18th  of  July — that  is,  at  the 
height  of  summer — at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  reaching  the  top  at 
eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day  ;  the  descent  was  commenced  an 
hour  later,  and  I  was  once  more  down  by  the  tent  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  19th  of  July.     The  diagram  will  show  the  results  of  the  readings. 

One  notices  at  once  that  immediately  above  the  ocean-ice  there  is  a  layer 
of  cold  air  which,  in  the  course  of  the  night,  is  further  cooled  down  to  below 
zero,  whilst  by  noon  it  is  somewhat  above  plus  3°  C.  Above  this  layer  of 
310 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

air,  which  is  250  metres  thick,  lies  another  layer  which  at  a  height  of  about 
1,000  metres  is  succeeded  by  a  cold  layer  of  air.  The  middle  layer  has 
through  both  day  and  night  a  temperature  of  nearly  plus  9°  C.  At  a  height 
of  600  metres,  then,  there  is  during  the  night  a  temperature  of  10°  C,  and 
during  the  day  it  is  6°  C.  warmer  than  on  the  coast.  During  our  hunting 
expeditions  we  had  rich  opportunities  to  prove  that  this  warmer  layer  of  air 
was  an  everyday  phenomenon  in  the  most  northerly  part  of  Greenland  during 
July  and  the  beginning  of  August.  It  would  take  us  too  far  here  to  examine 
the  reasons  for  the  existence  of  this  warm  layer,  but  it  is  obviously  of  great 
importance  to  both  plants  and  animals,  and  it  is  surely  a  contributory  cause 
of  the  existence  of  such  large  ice-free  reaches  along  the  north  coast  of 
Greenland. 

The  lower  cold  layer  of  air  immediately  above  the  ocean-ice  will,  of  course, 
protect  this  from  too  great  a  degree  of  melting,  and  as  one  must  assume  that 
the  under  side  of  the  ocean-ice  melts,  it  seems  reasonable  to  deduce  that  this 
ice  every  year  becomes  thicker  upward,  as  the  downfall  of  the  year  is  partly 
deposited  as  a  layer  of  ice  on  top  of  one  already  existing.  In  exactly  the  same 
way  the  floating  inland-ice  grows,  and,  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  there 
is  in  Victoria  Fjord  no  line  of  demarcation  between  ocean-ice  and  glacier-ice. 
In  several  other  fjords  there  is  a  ridge  of  pressed-up  ice  between  the  two  types 
of  ice,  as  the  glacier-ice  presses  forward  against  the  immovable  ocean-ice  ;  but 
the  surface  of  the  ice  on  both  sides  of  the  ridge  is  perfectly  even.  The  thick- 
ness  of  the  ocean-ice  may  be  put  at  approximately  5  metres,  whilst  the  floating 
inland-ice  may  be  30  metres  or  more,  especially  some  distance  behind  the  edge 
of  the  glacier. 

Loose  pieces,  consisting  partly  of  several  years  of  ocean-ice,  partly  of  float- 
ing inland-ice,  will  occasionally  drift  out  from  the  fjords  through  channels  and 
lanes  or,  on  rare  occasions,  when  the  fjord  is  ice-free.  They  may  be  found 
in  the  Polar  basin  north  of  Greenland,  and  are  especially  common  in  Robeson 
Channel.  Nares  Expedition  called  this  formation  "  palseocrystic  "  ice,  but 
not  until  now  has  it  been  known  how  it  arose.  The  Eskimos  call  it 
"  Sikussaq  " — i.e.,  ice  which  resembles  the  ocean-ice. 

Only  in  the  most  northerly  regions  is  the  ocean  itself  covered  by  inland- 
ice,  but  wherever  one  travels  in  Greenland  one  feels  this  inland-ice  as  the 
great  background  of  existence  in  these  latitudes.  Against  this  background  life 
must  be  viewed,  and  that  which  in  other  and  more  favoured  neighbourhoods 
may  seem  mean  here,  immediately  before  the  Ice  Period,  becomes  rich  and 
remarkable. 


311 


THE   ROUTES   OF   ESKIMO    WANDERINGS 
INTO   GREENLAND 


I 

THE  beginning  of  the  history  of  the  Eskimos,  more  than  that  of  any  other 
people  in  the  world,  is  hidden  in  darkness ;  so  far  no  explorer  has  been 
able  to  tell  with  certainty  whence  they  came,  and  the  tribes  themselves  veil 
their  origin  in  obscure  myths  which  give  only  sparse  information.  The  only 
thing  we  do  know  is  that,  when  these  40,000  people  stepped  into  the  light  of 
history,  they  were  spread  over  half  of  the  world's  Arctic  periphery  towards 
the  harsh,  ice-filled  oceans  whose  coasts  no  one  else  could  inhabit.  On  this 
mighty  stretch  of  coast  of  more  than  10,000  kilometres,  where  they  bridged 
points  as  far  apart  as  the  East  of  Greenland  and  Alaska,  the  Aleutic  Isles  and 
Siberia,  they  have  understood,  as  no  other  hunting  people,  the  art  of  self- 
preservation,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  merciless  fight  for  existence  they  have 
created  a  culture  which  compels  the  greatest  admiration  of  all  white  men. 

Now,  where  had  this  people  its  first  home? 

William  Thalbitzer  has,  by  a  study  of  the  oldest  myths,  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  various  circumstances  point  to  districts  towards  the  Far  West. 
Thalbitzer  writes  in  his  book,  "  Greenlandic  Myths  of  the  Past  of  the  Eskimo," 
p.  80: 

"  So  far  away  from  their  goal,  a  thousand  years  ago  or  more,  the  wander- 
ing commenced  which  led  to  the  coasts  of  Greenland.  At  that  time  the  chief 
camp  of  the  nation  was  by  Behring  Strait.  There  we  find  the  original  forms 
of  the  language  and  the  culture  which,  later  on,  the  wanderers  towards  the 
east  continued  and  adapted  on  the  coasts  of  David  Strait.  They  probably 
arrived  here  in  the  tenth  century  of  our  reckoning,  perhaps  somewhat  sooner, 
perhaps  somewhat  later,  spreading  themselves  during  successive  centuries  on 
one  side  down  towards  Newfoundland,  to  the  southern  border  of  Labrador,  and 
on  the  other  side  across  Smith  Sound  along  the  west  coast  of  Greenland  to 
Cape  Farewell,  and  north  of  Greenland  a  goodly  distance  down  along  the 
eastern  coast.  The  Stone  Age  people  which  the  Icelandic  Vikings  met  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  to  whom  they  had  to  yield  in  the  end,  the  same  people 
which  the  English  discoverers  of  the  sixteenth  century  found  again  in  larger 
numbers  both  on  Baffin  Land  and  in  Greenland,  was  not  a  very  old  population 
on  these  coasts ;  their  forebears  had  lived  not  many  generations  ago  in  the 
lands  of  the  evening  sun,  far  towards  the  west,  by  the  mouths  of  the  great 
rivers  on  both  sides  of  the  Rocky  Mountains." 

Another  authority,  Professor  Steensby,  is  of  the  opinion  that  once  they 
were  a  North  American  inland  people  with  the  culture  of  the  fisherman  and 
the  hunter,  whose  origin  must  be  looked  for  by  the  great  lakes  and  rivers 
which  have  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  west  and  Hudson  Bay  to  the  east. 
Pursued  by  inimical  Indian  tribes,  they  have  slowlv  withdrawn  towards  the 
312 


ESKIMO  WANDERINGS  INTO  GREENLAND 

Arctic  coasts,  and  here  they  accommodated  themselves  to  an  existence  which, 
at  the  outset,  permitted  an  adaptation  of  their  experiences  from  lakes  and 
rivers  to  the  sea-hunting  which  subsequently  through  the  centuries  developed 
them  into  a  people  whose  purely  technical  culture  and  ability  to  support  them- 
selves within  their  own  territories  is  unique  among  men. 

Since  they  arrived  at  the  sea  the  Eskimos,  according  to  Steensby's  theories, 
have  spread  both  towards  the  west  and  the  east,  so  that,  as  we  have  already 
mentioned,  we  find  their  western  border  on  the  Aleutic  Isles  and  East  Cape 
in  Siberia,  whilst  to  the  east  we  meet  them  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland.  In 
the  survey  which  we  will  here  give  to  illustrate  the  ethnographical  results  of 
the  expedition,  we  will,  however,  consider  merely  their  wanderings  towards 
the  east. 

Now,  what  was  the  reason  for  all  these  wanderings? 

Why  have  the  Eskimos  never  been  able  to  gather  in  larger  colonies,  similarly 
to  other  people,  and  seek  aid  in  the  fight  for  existence  in  the  security 
attendant  on  great  numbers  herding  together?  Where  a  whole  people  is  con- 
cerned it  is  not  a  sufficient  explanation  to  point  to  the  native  restlessness  of  the 
hunter,  which  forces  him  to  exajnine  the  coasts  of  the  lands  and  work  his 
way  towards  unknown  hunting-grounds.  When  the  Eskimos  spread  out  so 
widely  across  the  world  it  was  simply  because  their  means  of  existence,  and 
the  number  of  animals  to  be  caught,  demanded  that  they  must  fly  away  from 
each  other.  It  took  a  large  stretch  of  ground  to  provide  the  single  individual 
with  the  necessaries  of  life ;  the  fewer  the  hunters  the  better  were  the 
chances,  so  they  migrated  eastward  and  westward  along  the  coasts  in  little 
flocks,  as  long  as  they  were  not  stopped  by  purely  geographical  conditions. 

It  is  generally  stated  and  insisted  upon  that  the  Eskimos  on  their  wander- 
ings towards  Greenland  have  followed  the  tracks  of  the  musk-ox  and  reindeer. 
I  wish  to  emphasize  that  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that,  after  the  Eskimos 
discovered  the  ocean  and  its  great  sources  of  riches,  they  were  only  interested 
in  the  coasts  where  the  movements  of  the  aquatic  animals  gave  rise  to  conditions 
preferable  to  those  offered  by  the  fish  of  the  lakes  and  the  game  of  the  land. 
For  this  reason  they  have  for  many  generations  concentrated  on  inventions 
which  facilitated  the  catching  of  food  from  the  sea.  The  land  game  often 
gave  an  opportunity  for  great  hunting  expeditions  which  resulted  in  consider- 
able amounts  of  supplementary  provisions,  but  they  were  always  looked  upon 
as  a  subsidiary  means  of  existence.  If  on  their  way  the  Eskimos  happened  to 
come  across  large  herds  of  musk-ox  and  reindeer,  these  might  occasionally  be 
the  deciding  factor  for  the  wintering  camps,  but  otherwise  the  sea  route,  and 
the  advantages  or  the  difficulties  which  it  offered,  must  have  been  the  sole 
determinant  for  their  journeys.  In  the  following  we  will  show  more  clearly 
what  is  the  cause  of  the  seals  being  so  closely  bound  up  with  the  Eskimos'  life. 

The  high  Arctic  coasts  demand  to  a  greater  degree  than  any  other  regions 
a  highly  developed  winter  culture.  Cold  and  darkness  must  be  overcome 
through  long  and  pinched  months  when  there  is  often  no  possibility  of  hunt- 
ing, and  for  this  period  food  must  be  put  aside  during  the  more  favourable 
times  ;  with  the  food — seal  meat — follows  blubber,  which  makes  the  huts  as 
warm  as  summer  for  women  and  children.  Cold  houses  are  regarded  as  being 
more  dreadful  than  anything  else. 

To  begin  with  the  food,   it  is  necessary  to  point  out  at  once  the  way  in 

313 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

which  the  Eskimo  differentiates  between  the  flesh  of  land  animals  and  the 
flesh  of  seal  or  whale.  The  flesh  of  musk-ox  and  reindeer  is  considered  not 
durable,  especially  when  it  must  be  shared  with  the  dogs.  Further,  as  the 
only  article  of  food  it  is  not  always  sufficiently  rich  in  fat  for  this  cold  climate, 
where  the  consumption  of  much  fat  means  bodily  heat.  For  this  reason  it  has 
always  been  looked  upon  as  a  supplementary  food,  which  should  preferably  be 
eaten  together  with  stronger  and  fatter  meats. 

The  second  factor  in  Eskimo  life,  and  one  which  is  no  less  important,  is  the 
artificial  heat  required  in  order  that  one  may  live  and  thrive ;  for  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  Eskimos  spend  half  their  life  indoors  with  everything 
indispensable  collected  round  the  train-oil  lamp.  This  lamp  is  the  sun  of  the 
family,  and  the  only  light  during  the  period  of  Polar  darkness.  With  its 
mild  warmth  it  makes  even  the  smallest  hut  cosy,  and  over  its  flickering  flame 
are  cooked  all  the  meals,  round  which  the  Eskimos  gather  as  for  a  feast. 
Clothes  and  kamiks,  which  protect  them  against  the  cold,  are  dried  by  it, 
and  on  the  whole  it  makes  it  definitely  possible  for  women  and  children  to 
hibernate  comfortably  through  the  harshest  part  of  winter. 

It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  obtain  fat  from  reindeer  and  musk-ox  both  for 
light  and  warmth  in  a  hut.  But  it  is  far  from  being  the  same  heat,  and  it 
also  causes  much  more  trouble.  In  addition  to  this,  the  lamps  of  a  house 
demand  such  a  large  supply  of  fat,  as  they,  according  to  custom,  must  burn 
both  night  and  day,  that  an  extremely  great  number  of  animals  would  have 
to  be  killed  before  one  would  be  in  a  position  to  meet  the  winter  calmly..  And 
it  is  only  during  the  autumn  and  the  early  part  of  winter  that  the  animals  are 
fat.  Even  after  the  most  fortunate  hunting  excursions  it  is  difficult  to  obtain 
sufficient  fat  to  supply  both  men  and  lamps. 

All  these  purely  practical  view-points,  which  play  such  an  important  part 
in  their  daily  life,  have  been  given  to  me  by  old  Eskimos  who  have  themselves 
taken  part  in  folk  wanderings,  and  they  seem  to  demonstrate  that  an  Eskimo, 
when  once  he  is  used  to  the  flesh  of  aquatic  animals  and  blubber,  reluctantly 
substitutes  anything  else  for  it.  This  alone  satiates  his  appetite  and  enables 
him  to  convert  a  stone  hut  into  a  patch  of  summer  amidst  the  Polar  frost. 
And  one  must  remember  that  the  Eskimos  are  people  who  appreciate  a  good 
time,  and  that  the  cause  of  their  journeys  is  chiefly  a  desire  to  come  to  a  place 
where  conditions  are  better  than  those  which  they  enjoy  at  the  moment. 

When  we  assume  the  correctness  of  Professor  Steensby's  theory,  that  the 
Eskimo  culture  as  we  know  it  has  arisen  round  Coronation  Bay,  we  can  follow 
a  line  of  wandering  towards  the  east  which  runs  southward  from  Baffin  Land, 
and  then  via  Labrador's  coast  goes  almost  right  down  to  Newfoundland. 
Everywhere  on  these  stretches  the  catch  of  marine  animals  has  been  decisive 
for  all  travelling  dispositions.  Another  direction  of  migration  goes  north  to 
Lancaster  Sound  and  North  Devon,  where,  by  Jones  Sound,  it  divides  into 
two  routes,  some  of  the  Eskimos  going  eastward  and  some  of  them  westward 
round  Ellesmere  Land.  By  constant  and  successful  hunting  of  seal  and  bear, 
the  former  have  comparatively  quickly  reached  Pirn  Island,  and  the  subsequent 
crossing  to  Greenland  is  obvious — for  to  the  north  lie  trackless  districts  with 
pressure-ice,  whilst  at  this  point,  where  Smith's  Sound  is  at  its  narrowest,  one 
may  cross  on  easy  ice  to  a  large  and  promising  land. 

This  route  was  used  by  Baffinlanders  who  immigrated  into  Etah  in  1862 
under  the  great  Qidtlaq.     The  same  route  southward  was  taken  when   the 

314 


ESKIMO    BUNTINQ    IMPLEMENTS 

Prom   left   t'>   eight:    Harpoon    with    bone-point.     Winged   bar] a. 

Bow  with  arrows  and  quiver.  Salinon-spear  with  Bxed  barba 
Salmon-ape  <r  with  detachable  point  attached  to  ^  Beal-strap. 
Lances.      Harpoon  with  throwing-atick. 


ou » 


ESKIMO     IMPLEMENTS 


From  the  top:  Skin-scrapers,  stone  edge  with  handle  of  bone.  Point  of  Hint  for  harpoon. 
Harpoon-points  of  bone  with  edge  of  Hint.  Axe,  wooden  handle,  point  of  Hint.  Scraper 
of  flint  and  arrowhead.  Kayak-knife  for  ice.  made  of  bone.  Arrow-head  with  edge  of 
Hint.     Arrow-head  of  bone. 


ESKIMO  WANDERINGS  INTO  GREENLAND 

tribe,  after  six  years'  sojourn  in  Greenland,  attempted  to  return.  Somewhat 
later,  the  Polar  Eskimos  undertook  a  wandering  along  this  route,  and  wintered 
for  a  couple  of  years  on  Coburg  Island  by  the  mouth  of  Jones  Sound. 

The  first  immigrants  to  Greenland  reached  the  land  by  Cape  Inglefield,  and 
thence  they  spread  out  both  north  and  south.  The  parties  which  chose  the 
routes  to  the  south  soon  found  excellent  hunting-ground  in  Melville  Bay,  and 
further  ahead  in  other  parts  of  Greenland  ;  whilst  those  who  went  to  the  north 
from  Cape  Inglefield  gradually  settled  down  in  large  colonies  along  Inglefield 
Land  and  Peabody  Bay.  Excellent  conditions  were  found  everywhere  here, 
whilst  the  excursions  which  the  hunters  undertook  to  the  north  comparatively 
soon  proved  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  expansion  northward  through  the 
narrow  channels,  where  the  ice  was  a  chaos  of  pressure-ridges,  and  where 
the  seals  consequently  were  found  only  in  small  numbers.  The  land  itself  was 
covered  by  glaciers  and  had  no  ground  for  game,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
geological  formations,  limestone  and  sandstone,  provided  uncommonly  poor 
material  for  the  building  of  houses. 

Thus  for  many  generations  the  Eskimos  presumably  flocked  together  in 
this  neighbourhood,  comparatively  small,  but  fit  for  habitation,  and  this 
explains  why  we  found  such  an  unusually  large  number  of  winter-houses  on 
the  stretch  between  Cape  Inglefield  to  Humboldt's  Glacier.  As  gradually 
the.v  began  to  suffer  from  the  consequences  of  over-population,  they  decided 
to  follow  those  which  constantly  passed  southward  towards  the  much  more 
promising  coasts  where  seals  and  whales  abounded. 

The  Polar  Eskimos  have  a  distant  recollection  of  a  time  when  all  countries 
were  inhabited.  People  increased  until  they  did  not  appreciate  each  other  and 
found  that  neighbours  were  a  nuisance.  Although  one  must  be  very  careful  in 
making  history  from  the  old  myths,  it  is  nevertheless  probable  that  the  account 
of  the  great  blood  bath  round  Marshall  Bay  alludes  to  a  period  when  the  district 
here  was  subjected  to  a  blood-letting  which  overtook  the  people  because  they 
were  too  numerous. 

We  now  return  to  the  tribes  which  went  along  the  west  coast  of  Ellesmere 
Land,  and  which  are  of  especial  interest  to  us  when  we  discuss  a  route  of 
migration  north  of  Greenland.  For  a  while  they  must  have  felt  comfortable 
in  the  peculiar  and  ice-free  tracts  in  Ellesmere  Land,  Grinnell  Land,  Grant 
Land,  and  Heiberg  Land,  where  existed  and  still  exists  great  profusion  of 
game.  But  the  sealing  possible  in  the  narrow  sounds,  where  the  ice  often 
did  not  break  at  all,  was  far  from  satisfactory,  and  the  longing  for  the  sea 
therefore  led  to  a  speedy  departure.  Some  of  the  Eskimos  went  into  the  land 
through  Bay  Fjord,  and  found  a  convenient  crossing  over  Ellesmere  Land  down 
to  Flagler  Fjord,  from  which  the  passage  to  Greenland  takes  merely  a  couple 
of  days.  Others  penetrated  to  Lake  Hazen  through  Greely  Fjord,  and  the 
abundance  of  salmon  in  the  lake  and  the  large  flocks  of  musk-ox  and  hares 
have  for  a  while  made  them  give  up  the  thought  of  pushing  further  ahead. 
At  that  time  not  a  few  winter-houses  were  built ;  these  were  found  in  this 
neighbourhood  by  Greely's  Expedition.  The  way  from  Lake  Hazen  down  to 
the  sea  by  Lady  Franklin  Bay  and  Hall  Basin  is  very  easy  to  find,  as  great 
cloughs  and  rivers  run  down  from  the  lake.  In  bays  and  creeks  in  the  near 
vicinity  of  the  coast  there  is  rather  good  hunting  of  bearded  seal,  famous  for 
its  thick  layer  of  blubber  and  its  strong  skin.  The  Tiunters  by  Lake  Hazen 
have  probably,  as  did  the  Eskimos  who  lived  here  during  Peary's  expeditions, 

315 


X 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

gone  down  to  the  sea  to  hunt  every  spring ;  thus  we  find  them  as  neighbours 
to  Greenland.  Before  we  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Greenland's  north 
coast,  it  seemed  convenient  to  let  these  people  continue  from  the  tent-rings  by 
Thank  God  Harbour  further  north  along  the  coast,  and  thus  arose  the  idea  of 
the  invasion  of  the  east  coast  via  the  north  of  the  country.  In  the  following 
we  will  refute  this  opinion,  and  show  that  such  could  not  have  been  the  case. 
For  the  Grantlanders,  stopped  by  natural  conditions,  have  either  gone  south- 
ward on  the  ocean  to  Inglefield  Land,  which  could  easily  be  reached  in  the 
course  of  a  couple  of  months  in  the  spring,  even  if  we  allow  for  a  family 
removal ;  or  they  have  gone  behind  the  lands  down  to  the  route  which  their 
kindred  found  across  Ellesmere  Land. 


II 

When  we  went  to  the  great  fjords  on  the  north  coast  on  the  second  Thule 
Expedition  it  was  natural  that  we  should  harbour  great  ethnographical  expecta- 
tions with  regard  to  these  tracts,  as  the  possibility  of  a  previous  habitation  and 
a  folk-wandering  connected  with  it  could  only  be  decided  by  an  examination 
of  these  regions.  The  majority  of  explorers  presupposed  an  earlier  habitation. 
Nearly  all  theories  inclined  to  the  view  that  the  migration  into  Greenland  has 
taken  place  not  merely  from  Ellesmere  Land  via  Cape  Inglefield,  both  south- 
ward and  northward,  but  also  that  a  wandering  has  taken  place  north  of 
Greenland  to  the  east  coast,  and  that  this  invasion  has  received  its  main 
contingent  from  those  who  came  down  to  the  coasts  by  the  route  Greely  Fjord 
to  Lake  Hazen. 

Without  special  knowledge  of  Greenland's  north  coast,  it  seemed  natural 
*to  draw  these  conclusions,  because  Eskimo  tent-rings  had  been  found  as  high 
up  on  the  east  coast  as  the  north  side  of  Independence  Fjord,  both  by  the 
Danmark  Expedition  and  by  the  first  Thule  Expedition.  Winter-houses  on 
the  east  side  were  found  as  far  up  as  Sophus  Miiller  Point,  and  now  the 
problem  was  to  find  the  connection  with  these  by  winter-houses  or  at  least  by 
traces  of  a  wandering  along  the  north  coast. 

It  will  be  remembered  from  the  travelling  description  that,  although  we 
followed  the  coast,  everywhere  hugging  the  land,  and  even  occasionally  went 
right  up  on  the  ice-foot,  we  did  not  succeed  in  finding  the  faintest  trace  of  a 
previous  habitation,  this  despite  the  fact  that  we  and  our  four  Greenlanders 
incessantly  had  our  attention  directed  to  this  problem.  Even  in  Sherard 
Osborne  Fjord  and  Victoria  Fjord  nothing  was  found,  however  often  we 
traversed  on  our  hunting  excursions,  both  on  the  upward  and  the  downward 
journey,  all  the  land  which  was  accessible.  Even  a  place  like  the  Whirlpool 
in  I.  P.  Koch  Fjord,  a  natural  sealing  centre,  had  never  been  visited  until  we 
discovered  it. 

As  a  result  of  my  experiences  from  this  expedition  I  must  insist  that  no 
Eskimo  wandering  can  have  taken  place  north  of  Greenland,  and  I  will  attempt 
to  advance  my  arguments  on  this  point. 

During  a  folk-wandering  where  women  and  children  are  included  the  wan- 
derers would  never  voluntarily  go  into  quite  trackless  districts.  The  pressure- 
ice  from  Polaris  Promontory  to  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord  would  constitute  quite  a 
considerable  obstacle  for  the  transport  of  a  family  and  household  goods ;  and 
we  must  of  necessity  take  into  account  the  primitive  travelling  gear  which  was 
used.  The  sledges  were  made  entirely  from  whale  rib  or  from  pieces  of  wood 
316 


GREBNLANDERS  FROM  THK  MIDDLE  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

After  a  contemporary  picture  in  the  National  Museum,  Copenhagen. 


.*«* 


H 


*  £* 


ESKIMO    STONE    HUTS    IN    SPRING 


ESKIMO  WANDERINGS  INTO  GREENLAND 

patched  together;  they  were  small  and  always  very  fragile,  for  the  Eskimos 
lacked  the  tools  for  proper  workmanship.  On  these  sledges  were  trans- 
ported, during  the  great  camp-breakings,  stone  pans,  lamps,  and  skin  tents, 
all  of  which  were  heavy  and  unwieldy  articles;  further,  a  kayak,  if  a  man 
possessed  one,  the  spare  clothes  of  the  family,  and  whatever  else  they 
illicit  own  of  tools  and  things  which  could  not  be  replaced  in  a  hurry.  Even 
if  all  these  articles  represented  merely  the  most  modest  idea  of  what  a 
household  would  reckon  as  its  property  and  worldly  possessions,  they  were 
nevertheless  difficult  to  transport  and  demanded  proper  roads.  Those  of  the 
children  who  were  too  small  to  walk  were  strapped  like  phantastic  bundles  of 
skins  on  top  of  the  loads,  and  as,  during  long  removals,  out  of  consideration 
for  the  food,  often  only  a  few  dogs  were  kept,  the  adults  had,  as  a  rule,  to 
assist  in  the  pulling  and  pushing  of  the  sledges.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that 
for  such  a  transport  a  reasonably  good  condition  of  the  ground  would  be 
necessary . 

As  a  rule  the  removals  took  place  during  the  months  of  April  and  May ; 
there  was  then  warm  sunshine,  and  the  children,  who  must  always  be  con- 
sidered, suffered  less  from  bad  weather.  During  this  season,  when  the  seals 
begin  to  crawl  up  on  the  ice,  there  were  also  better  prospects  for  hunting  on  the 
way  if  the  game  did  not  yield  sufficient  daily  food.  One  must  remember  that 
no  provisions  could  be  brought,  apart  from  a  few  meals,  so  that  all  food  for 
men  and  dogs  must  be  acquired  on  the  way.  During  summer  and  autumn  no 
travelling  was  undertaken  in  high  Arctic  regions  like  those  we  are  now  con- 
sidering. In  the  summer  no  road  was  to  be  found,  and  in  the  autumn  it 
would  be  unjustifiable  to  set  out  towards  unknown  districts  with  winter  and 
darkness  before  one  and  no  depots  to  fall  back  on.  These  depots,  or  meat-pits, 
on  which  life  and  welfare  depended,  must  generally  be  collected  during  May, 
June,  and  July,  these  being  the  only  months  when  one  can  reckon  on  a  sur- 
plus. If  one  were  in  a  locality  where  the  summer  and  autumn  catch  were 
favourable,  one  might  also  reckon  on  August  and  September.  With  regard  to 
conditions  for  travelling  and  hunting  along  the  ntorth  coast  during  the  months 
mentioned,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  refer  to  the  preceding  travelling  description. 
The  peculiar  conditions  of  ice  and  snow  forbid  sealing  to  the  extent  which  is 
necessary  either  for  travellers  with  families,  or  for  a  stationary  life  in  camp  ; 
and  the  ice-free  inland  tracts  are  not  sufficiently  extensive  to  yield  game  for 
wandering,  not  to  mention  for  wintering,  tribes.  It  must  be  taken  for  granted 
that  the  musk-ox  has  gone  north  of  Greenland  only  in  small  and  casual  herds. 
As  we  found  no  winter-houses,  tent-rings,  fireplaces,  or  other  traces  of  Eskimos, 
this  negative  result  is  entirely  in  accordance  with  the  conditions  for  existence 
which  nature  offers. 

This,  then,  disposes  of  the  theory  of  a  folk-wandering  north  of  Greenland, 
for  it  would  be  unthinkable  apart  from  winter  stations  by  one  of  the  fjords  on 
the  north  coast.  From  the  tent-rings  by  Hall's  Grave,  the  most  northerly 
known  on  Greenland's  west  coast,  to  the  tent-rings  by  Independence  Fjord, 
the  most  northerly  known  on  Greenland's  east  coast,  there  is  a  distance  of  no 
less  than  1,000  kilometres  along  the  route  which  an  Eskimo  family  would 
follow.  From  the  houses  in  Benton  Bay,  the  most  northerly  known  on  Green- 
land's west  coast,  to  the  winter-houses  by  Sophus  Miiller  Point  on  the  east 
coast,  there  is  a  distance  of  about  1,500  kilometres  along  the  sledge  track 
north  of  Peary  Land,  or  a  distance  approximately  as  great  as  from  I'pernivik  to 
Frederikshaab.     An   Eskimo  family   would  never  traverse  such  a  distance  in 

317 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 

one  journey,  but  must  have  several  intermediary  stations  with  good  hunting 
on  the  way.  Further,  the  hunters  must,  in  order  to  carry  on  from  day  to 
day,  travel  under  the  impression  that  the  hunting  along  the  route  they  follow 
will  be  increasingly  better  the  further  they  go.  Our  expedition,  which  con- 
sisted only  of  selected  men  equipped  with  the  very  best  of  gear  and  weapons 
of  our  time,  barely  escaped  from  this  coast,  so  poor  in  game,  this  despite  the 
fact  that  we  visited  it  in  the  most  favourable  season  when  hunting  should  be 
at  its  best. 

Certain  writers  support  their  defence  of  a  folk-wandering  north  of  Green- 
land by  pointing  out  that  the  climatic  conditions  in  these  regions  were  once 
different,  and  that  at  that  time  a  heat  wave  passed  over  the  north  of  Greenland 
with  a  milder  climate,  which  gave  quite  different  conditions  of  existence  than 
the  present.  If  we  assume  that  this  period  coincides  with  the  post-glacial  heat 
wave  known  in  Scandinavia — and  there  are  many  indications  of  this  proba- 
bility— the  period  of  the  milder  climate  would  then  be  some  6,000  years  ago; 
but  the  Eskimo  wanderings  probably  took  place  1,000  or  1,200  years  ago,  so 
that  this  heat  wave  cannot  have  influenced  the  migrations  here  mentioned ; 
when  they  took  place  conditions  must  have  resembled  those  of  the  present 
time. 

In  addition  to  the  obstacles  on  the  road  and  the  conditions  of  the  ice,  which 
hinder  the  movements  of  the  aquatic  animals,  there  are  also  other  natural 
phenomena  peculiar  to  the  north  coast  which  must  be  taken  into  consideration. 
The  great  fjords,  St.  George  Fjord,  Sherard  Osborne  Fjord,  Victoria  Fjord, 
Nordenskjold  Fjord,  I.  P.  Koch  Fjord,  and  the  other  greater  and  smaller 
incisions  right  up  to  de  Long  Fjord,  are  all  filled  with  floating  inland-ice  ;  and 
through  this  no  seal  is  able  to  work  a  breathing-hole. 

Another  circumstance  which,  though  of  less  importance  compared  with 
those  already  mentioned,  nevertheless  made  an  impression  on  our  Eskimo 
members,  is  the  uncommonly  poor  material  for  houses  which  is  to  be 
found  ;  the  coast  consisted  mostly  of  loose,  slaty,  and  easily  crumbling  sand- 
stone, unsuitable  for  the  building  of  stone  nouses.  An  Eskimo  would  scarcely 
settle  down  here  voluntarily.  The  opinion  which  has  occasionally  been  voiced 
to  the  effect  that  the  Eskimos,  during  their  visit  to  the  north  coast,  contented 
themselves  with  only  snow-huts  during  the  winter,  is  improbable,  and  betrays 
a  complete  ignorance  of  natural  conditions  in  Greenland,  and  of  Eskimo 
habits.  Apparently  one  forgets  that  not  in  all  seasons  of  the  year,  not  even  in 
all  places,  is  it  possible  to  build  snow-houses.  During  autumn  and  the  first 
part  of  winter,  in  September,  October,  November,  eventually  also  in 
December,  one  only  occasionally  finds  snow  drifted  together  to  such  a  con- 
sistency that  it  would  be  possible  to  cut  out  of  it  blocks  for  building  material. 
And  during  these  months  no  hunter  would  let  his  wife  and  his  children  lie 
freezing  in  a  skin  tent.  The  season  of  the  snow-houses  only  comes  when  the  first 
hunting  excursion  begins,  with  the  return  of  the  light  period. 

The  lines  of  the  Eskimo  migration  from  the  north  to  the  east  coast  were 
previously  drawn  through  Peary  Channel,  through  which  one  could  penetrate 
from  Nordenskjold  Fjord  into  Independence  Fjord  without  leaving  the  coast, 
conveniently  hunting  game  on  both  shores.  As  we  have  now  succeeded  in 
proving  that  instead  of  sea  one  meets  here  with  a  belt  of  ice  of  considerable 
breadth,  this  short  cut  also  is  eliminated.  Remains  then  only  the  inland-ice, 
.  in  as  far  as  it  can  be  traversed  behind  Peary  Land's  north  coast  from  Nor- 
denskjold to  Independence  Fjord.      But  the  conditions  for  an  ascent  are  very 

318 


ESKIMO  WANDERINGS  INTO  GREENLAND 

difficult  here,  because  of  the  floating  inland-ice  and  its  crevasses;  and  even 
if  these  were  passable,  a  sensible  man  with  wife  and  children  would  hardly  set 
out  on  a  200  kilometres  long  wandering  through  the  waste  if  he  did  not  know 
anything  beforehand  about  the  natural  conditions  with  which  he  would  meet 
when  at  last  the  risky  journey  had  come  to  an  end.  If  a  wandering  from  the 
north-west  to  the  north-east  of  Greenland  has  taken  place,  there  is  only  the 
way  north  of  Peary  Land;  but  no  conditions  for  existence  are  offered  here. 

To  sum  up,  all  observations  made  during  the  expedition  point  to  the 
probability  that  in  Melville  Bay  we  must  look  for  the  great  main  route  which 
lias  led  the  Eskimos  from  the  North  American  Archipelago  to  Greenland. 

The  entire  migration  has  gone  southward,  and  even  to  the  east  coast  they 
have  come  south  of  Cape  Farewell.  It  has  been  maintained  that  the  collections 
brought  home  from  the  north  of  East  Greenland  point  towards  north,  but 
even  such  an  argument  appears  to  me  futile  to  discuss.  For  it  would  seem 
much  more  natural  to  relate  the  North-East  Greenlanders  to  tribes  which  have 
been  offshoots  from  the  colony  at  Angmagssalik,  which  has  no  doubt  always 
been  thickly  populated.  Right  down  to  the  time  of  the  colonization  there  were 
people  here  who  went  north,  and  many  hunting  traditions  point  to  a  north- 
going  movement.  Along  this  coast  there  are  no  passages  which  can  compare 
with  the  stretch  between  Hall  Basin  and  Independence  Fjord.  As  these  people 
from  the  sub-Arctic  climate  gradually  settled  down  under  quite  different  con- 
ditions and  quickly  became  acclimatized  and  adapted  their  tool-making  tech- 
nique to  a  definite  or  exclusive  winter  culture,  so  everything  found  after  them 
will  bear  the  high  Arctic  stamp,  although  it  must  not  necessarily  have  come 
southward  from  the  north,  wherefrom  no  way  is  to  be  found.  And  could 
anybody  imagine  a  folk-wandering — and  that  numerically  a  rather  large  one — 
traversing  more  than  1,000  kilometres  along  the  coast  without  leaving  the 
slightest  trace?  The  tent-rings  in  Independence  Fjord  must  therefore  be  due 
to  reconnoitrings  from  Sophus  Miiller  Point. 

In  full  accordance  with  the  views  here  maintained,  we  lose  the  traces  of  a 
folk-wandering,  both  on  the  west  and  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  in  and 
with  the  localities  where  the  sealing  during  the  hunts  of  spring  and  summer 
cannot  form  the  base  of  an  existence  such  as  the  Eskimo  desires. 


319 


INDEX 


Adam  Biering  Land,  154 

Advance  Bay,  55,  57,  59-60,  242,  246 

Agassiz,  Cape,  57,  59,  184,  188,  225,  231, 
251,  268,  277;  vegetation,  275;  the 
collections  brought  from,  285,  287 

Agpalinguaq,   11 

Ainu  people,  Wulff  and  the,  273-74 

Ajako,  41,  52,  77,  78,  85,  115,  162,  168, 
193;  musk-ox-hunting,  99-103,  106, 
109,  120-21,  172-73;  wolf-hunting, 
110;  snow-blindness,  111;  journey  to 
Nyeboes  Glacier,  119;  his  dogs,  122; 
hares,  126-35,  137 ;  illness,  133-35; 
volunteers  again,  139-40 ;  seal-hunt- 
ing, 144,  187-89,  206  ;  at  Thule  Moun- 
tain, 152 ;  and  the  Great  Flesh-pot, 
158-59;  reliability  174-78;  at  Cape 
May,  183  ;  hopefulness  of,  204-6 ;  re- 
connoitring expeditions,  237 ;  the 
walk  to  Etah,  238-48,  277-  men- 
tioned in  Dr.  Wulff 's  diary,  280 ;  the 
attempt  to  bury  Dr.  Wulff,  285-87 

Akia,  country  of,  61.  See  Washington 
Land 

Akunarmiut,  "between  the  winds,"  20, 
23-24 

Albert  and  Victoria  Mountains,  the,  305 

Alert,  journey,  1875-76,  78;  at  Floeberg 
Beach,  82 ;  Beaumont  sets  out  from 
the,  94-96 

Aleutic  Isles,  313 

Alexander,  Cape,  42 

Amulets,  31 

Angmagssalik,  319 

Angutdligamaq,  storv  of,  44-47 

Animals,  Arctic,  299-300 

Anoritoq,  camp  at,  11,  15,  24,  25,  57,  67  ; 
our  arrival,  44-47  ;  Eiderduck  of,  49 

Arnajaq,  tales  of,  44-47 

Arnaruluk,  28 

Assarpanguaq,  248 

Astrup,  112,  219 

Auk-mountains,  13 

Aunartoq  camp,  houses  of,  47,  50-53 

Avangnardlit,  inhabitants,  20,  24-25 

Avortungiaq's  Island,  57 

Baffin,  first  discoverer  of  the  Eskimo,  1 
Baffin's  Bay,  22  ;  reindeer  customs  from, 

51 ;  open  water  of,  74 
Ballot  Island,  79 
Barnacle-geese,  135,  144,  157,  175 


Bartlett,  Captain,  248-49 

Bawl,  sailor,  96 

Bay  Fjord,  315 

Bear  Island,  305 

Bear-dogs,  16 

Bear-hunting,  15,  16,  25 

Bear-skins,  uses,  22-23 ;  barter  in,  24 

Beaumont  Isles,  92,  183-84 

Beaumont,  Lieut.  75,  91,  146;  at  Gap 
Valley,  86 ;  the  deposit  at  Beau- 
mont's beacon,  97,  115 ;  tenacity  of, 
99 ;  report  of,  94-97,  107,  115 

Behring  Strait,  312 

Bennett,  Cape,  139,  158 

Benton  Bay,  63,  317 

Bessel  Fjord,  70 

Bierderbick,  150 

Bird-hunting,  13 

Birds,  Arctic,  299 

Black  Horn  Cliffs,  87,  88,  95,  148,  187 

Blue  Point,  159 

Bluebottles,  182 

Boatswain  Sound,  157 

Boggild,  Prof.  Bernhard,  155 

Bosun,  100,  106,  108,  162;  hares,  78; 
musk-ox -hunting,  85,  167-68,  173 ; 
endurance  of,  102,  139-40;  at  Nor- 
denskjold  Fjord,  119 ;  geese,  144 ; 
seal-hunting,  187-89,  192-93;  story 
of  Hendrik  194;  on  land,  238,  240'; 
return  to  Etah,  259-70 ;  mentioned 
by  Dr.  Wulff,  280,  282 ;  a  new  outfit, 
285-86 

Brainard,  145-48,  150 

Brevoort,  Cape,  85-87,  114 

Bridgeman,  Cape,  140,  155 ;  Koch's 
beacon,  119 

Britannia,  Cape,  92,  146 

Bronlund,  Jbrgen,  feat  of,  165 

Brown's  Coast,  69 

Bryan,  Cape,  64,  69,  70,  91,  95,  114, 
187 

Bryant,  Cape,  146 

Burials,  49 

Buttress,  Cape,  111-12,  184 

Caledonian  Folding,  the,  306 
Callhourn,  Cape,  65 
"  Camp  Mountain,"  the,  301 
Camp-fires,  effect,  163 
Camps,  permanent,  20-25;  Eskimo,  near 
Lake  Hazen,  147 

321 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 


Canada  of  the  Ice  Period,  306 

Cape  Ramsay  Island,  152 

Cape  York,  the,  226 

Cass  Bay,  61 

Cassiope,  125 

Castle  Island,  109,  111 

Central    Institution    for    Experimental 

Agriculture,  272 
Centrum  Island,  162,  166 
"Chequer  Ground,"  298 
China,  Wulff  in,  273 
Chip  Inlet,  122-27,  132,  135 
Christianshaab,  colony  of,  195 
Cinema,  film-producing,  51-52 
Clav,  Cape,  61-63 
Clothing,  Eskimo,  17-19 
Coburg  Island,  315  . 

Colouring,  Arctic,  of  birds  and  animals, 

299-300 
Comer,  Captain,  43 ;  letter  from,  255-56 
Conger,  Fort,  10,  41,  76,  77,  87,  145-49, 

180 
Constitution,  Cape,  41,  64,  66,  67,  77 
Cook,  Dr.,  44 
Coppinger,  Dr.,  95,  97 
Coppinger,  Mount,  116 
Coral  reefs,  65 
Coronation  Bay,  314 
Crevasses,  229 
Crockerland    Expedition,    4,    248;    the   , 

house  in  Etah,  43-44,  253-54 ;  letter   ' 

from  Captain  Comer,  255-56 
Crozier  Island,  66 
Cryokonite  holes,  235 

Dallas  Bay,  57,  58 

Dalrymple  Rock,  23 

Daniel  Bruun  Glacier,  189,  197,  199, 
202  ;  crossing  the,  210-34 

Danmark  Expedition,  the,  33,  209,  248, 
256,  298.  316 

David  Strait,  312 

Denmark,  visit  of  Ajako,  52  ;  last  letters 
home  to,  67-68 

Denmark  Fjord,  165 

Depot  Island,  107 

"  Devil's  Cleft  (The),"  213-15,  220,  302-3 

Devil's  Thumb,  307 

Discovery,  H.M.S.,  71,  82;  Beaumont's 
expedition,  75,  97 ;  voyages,  1875-76, 
78 

Discovery  Harbour,  145 

Disko  Island,  82,  307 

Dobing,  Seaman,  96 

Dog-driving,  art  of,  66 

Dogs,  feeding  of,  36,  41 ;  pack  of 
Inukitsoq,  68-69 ;  teams  for  the  ex- 
pedition, 97-98 ;  removal  of  the  rap- 
torious  tooth,  107-8;  killing  of  the, 
114-15,  122,  128,  201,  205,  221-22, 
224,  225,  229,  231-34,  237;  effect  of 
the  snow  on,  128-29 ;  in  hunger,  131  ; 
health  of  the,  134,  200;  and  the 
musk-ox,  170-71 ;  treatment  of,  176 

Dragon  Mountain,  185-86,  200,  202 

322 


Dragon  Point,  92,  93,  139,  184,  186,  310 ; 
Beaumont's  record,  95-96;  the  depot, 
106-9 ;  journey  to  Depot  Island  from, 
113-17  ;  seals  of,  123,  127,  156,  161, 
180,  187 

Drum-songs,  37-38 

East,  Cape,  313 

Eiderduck,  13,  56;  story  of  the,  49-50 

"  Eiderduck."     See  Miteq 

Elison  Island,  160,  162 

Ellesmere's  Land,  10,  15,  17,  315 

Emory,  Cape,  135,  137 

England,  farthest  north  record  beaten, 
147 

Eskimos,  Polar,  meeting  with  Ross,  2-3  ; 
contempt  for  death,  5-11 ;  a  nomadic 
people,  25-27 ;  primitive  view  of  life, 
27-32 ;  employed  in  the  Greely  Ex- 
pedition, 146 ;  immigration  north  of 
Greenland  not  possible,  156,  316-19 ; 
legends,  158;  happy  impressions, 
256-57 ;  history  of  the,  312-19 

Etah,  11,  13,  24,  25,  43-44,  69,  87,  188, 
226,  238,  280,  284-87;  the  return 
journey  to,  241-55 ;  relief  sent  from, 
257 ;  Koch's  return,  269-70 

Fairies,  Danish,  242  and  note 
Falcon,  at  Cape  Constitution,  67 
Farewell,  Cape,  209,  312,  319 
Farragut,  Mount,  116 
"Farthest  North"  records,  147 
Fauna    in   North    Coast    of    Greenland, 

298-300 
Film-producing,  51-52 
Fishing-hooks  from  reindeer,  56 
Fjord-seal,  14 
Flagler  Fjord,  315 

"  Flats,"  Danish  term  for,  205  and  note 
"Flesh-pot  (The),"  159,  161,  187 
Flies,  Arctic,  pollination  by,  297 
Floeberg  Beach,  82 
Flora  in  North  Coast  of  Greenland,  292- 

98 

F^fn-w'ind,     effect,     21-22,     221,     226, 

230 
Forbes,  Cape,  59,  229 
Fossils    of    the    coast    mountains,    65; 

specimens    sent    south,    68 ;    on    the 

homeward  journey,  216 
Foulke  Fjord,  257,  259 
Foxes,   blue,   13-14;  sale-foxes,   22;  use 

of   the   tower-trap,    54;    hunting   of, 

106,  118 
Franklin  Bay,  90 
Frederick,  Eskimo,  150 
Frederick  Hyde  Fjord,  152 
Frederikshaab,  317 
Freuchen,  Peter,  work  of,  165,  285,  286, 

288  ;  letter  from,  255  ;  home  at  Thule, 

290-91 
Fulford,  Cape,  95 


INDEX 


Gap  Valley,  86,  96 

Geological  collections  sent  home,  77 

Geological  observations  bv  Laugo  Koch, 
301-4 

Germany  and  the  war,  249 

Glacier,  Cape,  beacon  at,  119 

Glacier  tojrents,  232-33 

Gneiss,  57 

Godhavn,  146 

Godthaab,  306,  307 

Gothenburg,  271 ;  the  Rohsska  Knuts- 
lojd  museum,  273 

Gramophones,  43,  44,  254 

Grant  Land,  68,  73,  77,  79,  141,  315; 
coast,  82,  87;  views  of,  88;  Greely's 
exploration,   147-48;  geology,  306 

Grant,  Mr.,  kidnapping  of,  273 

Graves  near  Hall's  Grave,  75-76 ; 
Odell's,  78 

Gray  (Beaumont's  party),  96 

Gray,  Cape,  111,  112 

Great  Blood-Bath  Fjord,  legend  of,  55- 
56 

"Great  Flesh-pot,"  the,  158-59 

Greely  Expedition,  winter  quarters  at 
Fort  Conger,  77-79;  America's  ar- 
rangements, 145-46 ;  exploration  of 
Grant  Land,  147-48,  315 ;  the  disas- 
ter, 148-51 

Greely  Fjord,  148,  315 

Greenland,  South  of,  hunting  imple- 
ments imported  from,  16 ;  northern 
extremity  reached  by  Peary,  87 

Grinnell  Land,  53,  145,  224 ;  mountains 
of,  69,  305-6;  Greely's  journey,  148- 
49,  315 

Gull  (Maage),  1 

Gulls,  Arctic,  133,  220 

Hagen,  165 

Hall,  4,  85 ;  experience  with  seals,  143 

Hall  Basin,  73,  77,  78,  97,  114,  315,  319 ; 
geology,  303 

Hall  Land,  Washington  Land  to,  61-79 

Hall's  Grave,  67,  73-76,  80,  288 ;  Beau- 
mont's journey,  96-97 ;  tent-rings, 
317 

Hands  Bay,  89 

Hannah  Island,  70 

Hanne  Island,  152 

Hansen,  Captain,  33 

Hares,  16-17,  51,  98,  106-8,  118,  126,  169, 
239-40,  244-46,  298 

Harpoon,  use  by  the  Polar  Eskimo,  12 

Harrigan  (Inukitsoq),  62,  63,  90,  99, 
101,  103,  106,  168,  193;  dogs  of,  68- 
69 ;  a  find,  70-71 ;  return  of,  77-78 ; 
experiences,  87-88  ;  sledge  journey  in 
Nordenskjold  Fjord,  119-20 ;  journey 
to  Cape  Salor,  139;  seal-hunts,  161, 
163,  198-201,  204;  ice-water  baths, 
174 ;  reconnoitring  tours,  183,  185, 
202-3;  his  offer  on  Hondrik's  re- 
quest, 190;  on  the  Daniel  Bruun 
Glacier,  210-13  ;  illness,  225  ;  on  land, 


238-40;  the  return  to  Etah,  259-61; 
Koch's  report,  262-70 ;  report  of, 
L'75-79  ;  mentioned  by  Dr.  Wultf,  280- 
81 ;  the  road  to  Thule,  288 ;  reception 
in  Thule,  290-91 

Hartz  Sound,  196-97 

Hawaii,  117 

Hayes,  4 

Hazen,  Lake,  68,  147,  315 

Heiberg's  Land,  17,  315 

Hendrik,  Hans,  62,  78,  81,  84,  100,  101, 
106,  108,  259 ;  meets  Beaumont,  97  ;  at 
Nordenskjold  Fjord,  119  ;  journey  to 
Cape  Salor,  139 ;  on  Dragon  Moun- 
tain, 186,.  189;  story  of,  190  et  seq.; 
a  beacon  in  his  memory,  207-9 

Hendrik's  Island,  201 

Henningsen,  Director,  273 

Henson,  Matthew,  87 

Holm,  Cape,  15 

Holstenborg,  306,  309 

Honolulu,  117 

Hooker,  Cape,  92 

Hooker,  Mount,  Beaumont's  attempt, 
95-96  •  (Fusjijama),  116 

Houses,  Eskimo,  19-20 ;  Samisulik  type, 
57 ;  winter-houses  near  Benton's 
Bay,  63 ;  near  Lake  Hazen,  315 

Humboldt's  Glacier,  11,  15,  17,  20,  41, 
188,  217,  227,  241-42,  286;  view  of, 
58 ;  description,  58-60 ;  the  journey 
towards,  62 ;  ice-blocks,  72 ;  rein- 
deer, 180;  geology,  301-2 

Hunting,  summer  sport,  12-14 ;  in 
winter,  14-16 

I.  P.  Koch  Fjord,  132,  134,  161,  316 
Ice,   the  Polar,   72:   Sikussaq,   72,   311; 

low    floating   inland,    111-12,    308-9; 

differentiation    between    inland    and 

coastland,    123  ;   movements,   156-57  ; 

the  inland-ice,  306-11 ;  power  of  the 

sun's  rays  on  the  ocean-ice,  309-10 
Ice  Period,  observations  on  the,  306-11 
Ice-foot,  formation  of,  53 ;  in  Hall  Basin, 

78 
Ice-gulls,  56 
Ice-hunting,  57 
Iceland,  visits  of  Wulff,  272 
Ice-mountains,    66-67,    71-72 ;    floating, 

126 ;  of  Nordenskjold  Fjord,  122 
Tee-water  baths,  166-69,  174 
Igdluluarssuit,  24,  41,  285,  286,  288 
Ilaitoq,  248 
Ilanguaq,  37-38 
Independence,  Cape,  66 
Independence  Fjord,  119-20,  122-23,  138, 

154,    162,   165,    187,   316;   tent-rings, 

317,  319 
India,  Wulff's  work  in,  272 
Ingersoll,   Cape,  47 
Inglefield  Bay,  camps,  285-86 
Inglefield,  Cape,  10,  47,  315 
Inglefield   Gulf,   24,    247 ;   icebergs,   72 ; 

head  of,  288-89 

323 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 


Inglefield  Land,  60,  255,  287,  315; 
winter-houses,  62  ;  coast  ice-foot,  65  ; 
Wulff's  report,  267-68 

Insects,  Arctic,  300 

International  Meteorological  Explora- 
tion of  1881,  145 

Inugarfigssuaq,  55 

Inuqitsoq.     See  Harrigan 

Iterdlagssuaq,  288 

Iterfiluk,  house  of,  35 

Jacobshavn,  308 

Japan,  Wulff  in,  273-74 

Jarl,  Hakon,  story  of,  179 

Java,  274 

Jefferson,  Cape,  65 

Jens,  Greenlander,  146,  150 

Jewell  Inlet,  126,  144 

Joe  (Hendrik),  143 

John  Murray  Island,  92 

Jones  (Beaumont's  party),  96 

Jones  Sound,  15,  314,  315 

Kane  Basin,  73 ;  ice-floes,  47,  59-60 ;  the 
ice-foot  of,  53-54 

Kane,  Dr.,  4;  on  Humboldt's  Glacier, 
quoted,  58-60 

Kangerdluarsuk,  288 

Kangerdlugssuag,  290 

Kayaks,  12 

Kennedy  Channel,  10,  69,  73 

Kent,  Cape,  58 

Kerenski,  249 

Kiajuk,  35 

Kiatak,  24 

Knud  Rasmussen,  observations,  260, 
310 ;  the  Last  Will  of  Dr.  Wulff,  267, 
270 ;  mentioned  in  the  Diary,  281  ; 
narrative  of,  298-300 

Koch,  Lauge,  100,  103,  106,  109-10 ;  the 
start,  33;  a  sledge  party,  54'  at 
Cape  Clay,  61-63  ;  fossils,  65 ;  a  find, 
70-71;  illnesses,  111-12,  114-15,  117- 
18,  133-34,  225,  238;  journey  to 
Nyeboes  Glacier,  119 ;  dogs  of,  120, 
122;  reconnoitring  expeditions,  129- 
32;  volunteers  again,  139;  account 
of  Thule  Mountain,  152-53,  155:  at 
Cape  Salor,  160;  his  25th  birthday, 
167  ;  the  musk-oxen,  171 ;  on  Dragon 
Mountain,  186,  189,  193-94;  on  the 
Daniel  Bruun  Glacier,  198,  210,  216 ; 
reaches  Etah,  259-60 ;  report  of,  260- 
77  ;  mentioned  in  Wulff's  letters,  274- 
75,  281 ;  journey  to  Inglefield  Land, 
285-87;  clothes"  for,  288;  geological 
observations  by,  301-4 

Koch's  beacon,  119 

Kristiansen,  Frederik,  145,  146,  148 

Kukat,  247 

Labrador,  312 

Lady  Franklin  Bay,  78-79,  82,  97,  145, 

315 
Lady  Franklin's  Expedition,  151 

324 


Lafayette  Bay,  66 

Lakes    formed   during   ice-melting,    72, 

224 
Lambert  Land  depot,  165 
Lamp,  the  Eskimo,  314 
Lancaster  Sound,  314 
Land-hunting,  57 
Landscapes,  karst,  216 
Lapland,  visits  of  Wulff,  272 
Lemming,   habits    of   the.    111,    121-23, 

298-99 
Letters  home,  67-68 
Lichens,  215 
Lincoln  Sea,  73,  80 
Lindhardt,    J.,    on   scurvy,    quoted,   83 

note 
"Little  Throat,"  story  of,  38-39 
Littleton  Island,  148 
Lockwood,   87 ;   report   from,    144,   154 ; 

voyage  of,  145-51 
Lockwood  Island,  147 
Lockwood's  beacon,  145,  156,  158 
de  Long  Fjord,  64,   120,  123,  126,  137, 

140,    144,    147,    150;    exploration   of, 

152 ;  two  sketches,  153 
Low  Point,  138,  142,  144,  157 
Lucie  Marie,  Cape,  73 
Lund,  271 
Lupton,  Cape,  80 
Lynge,  dreams  of,  227-28,  255 

Majaq,  meat-pits  of,  44,  48-50 ;  hut  of, 

51-52 ;  bears  slain  by,  62 ;  return,  68 
Majaq,  son  of,  248 
Manigssoq,  141 
Markham,      voyage      of,      81-84 ;      his 

"farthest  north,"   147 
Marshall  Bay,  54,  56,  225,  248,  261,  280; 

seals,  187 ;  the  Blood-bath,  315 
Masaitsiaq,  5 

Mascart  Inlet,  126,  142,  144,  152 
Mattak  feasts,  288,  290 
Mauna  Loa,  117 
Mav,  Cape,  92,  99,   101,   113,  116,  118, 

146,  175,  183 
McMillan,   43,   135 ;  misses   Lockwood's 

beacon,  145 ;  his  gramophone,  226 
McMillan    Valley,     118 ;     the    musk-ox 

hunt,  166-78 
Melville  Bay,   20,   21,   22,   68,   72,   307, 

315;  bear-hunts,  48,  143-44;  glaciers, 

59  ;  meat-pits,  63  ;  the  route  through, 

319 
Melville,  Cape,  13 
Meteorological  observations,  128 
Midgard     Snake,     the,     215-18,     220; 

geology  of,  302 
Miteq,  the  "  Eiderduck,"  meeting  with, 

247-48 ;  his  news,  248-50 
Mohn,  Cape,  141,  145,  152,  157 
Moltke  Glacier,  308 
Mongolia,  Wulff  in,  273 
Morris  Bay,  65 
Morris-Jesup,    Cape,    140,    154 ;    beacon 

at,  119-20 


INDEX 


Morton,  voyage  of,  62 

Morton,  Cape,  70,  82 

'•  Mosekone,"  242 

Mountain  chain  of  North  Greenland 
coast,  65,  304-6 

Mukden,  Wulff  in,  273 

Musk-ox,   meat  of  the,   17,  47,  99-101 
103,    106,    298;   found   by   Hall,    76 
hares   and,   98;   wolves   and,    105-6 
in  McMillan  Vallev,  168-78 ;  rations 
of  tallow,  202-3 

Mylius-Erichsen,  33,  165,  180;  beacon 
at  Cape  Glacier,  119 

Myths,  Eskimo,  27-32 

Nares  Expedition,  4,  70,  73,  75,  82; 
Markham's  journey,  81-84 ;  winter 
harbour,  1875-76,  88 ;  Beaumont's 
journey,  94 ;  methods  employed,  146  ; 
observations,  311 

Nares  Fjord,  106 

Nares  Land,  106 

Narwhal,  24,  25 

Nauj&rtalik  Mountain,  288 

Necromancers,  Eskimo,  30 

yeptune,  256 

Neqe,  sea-kings,  24 ;  camp,  41,  285,  287 

Netsilivik,  35 

Neumeyer,  Cape,  137,  139,  141,  157-58, 
174 

Newfoundland,  312 

Newman  Bay,  74,  76,  78,  81,  85,  86,  96, 
100 

Newspapers,  256 

Nigerdht,  20-23 

Nipon,  Steamer,  274 

Nordenskjbld  Fjord,  hunting  conditions, 
102-3,  119:  land  around,  106:  chart- 
ing of.  119,  120,  122,  127;  Peary's 
idea  of,  154,  162 ;  view  of,  165 

North  Devon,  314 

Northumberland  Island,  36 

Norway,  mountain  chains,  305-6 

Nugssuaq,  307 

Nunatak,  122,  162,  211,  216,  223 

Nyeboe  Land,  219 

Nyeboes  Glacier,  119 

Odaq,  8,  11 

Odell,  A.  A.,  grave  of,  78 

Offley  Island,  72-73 

Olrik  Bay,  290 

Olsen,  Pastor  Gustav,  290 

Orqordlit,   20,  24 

Osarqaq,  5,  27 

Owl's  nest,  the,  125 

Pack-ice,  Polar,  73-74,  86 
Pack-sledges,  return  of  the,  68-69,  77- 

79 
Panguaq,  248 
Parker  Snow  Bav,  13 
Parr,  Lieut.,  84  ' 
Parry,  Cape,  34,  248,  256 


Pauluna,  68 

Pavy,  Dr.,  148 

Payer,  Cape,  142 

Payer  Harbour,   150 

Peabody  Bay,  58,  59,  61,  230,  315; 
islands  of,  241 

Peary,  and  the  Eskimos,  4,  6-11 ;  at 
Fort  Conger,  76 ;  expeditions,  79 ; 
record  near  Repulse  Harbour,  87, 
95;  quarters  at  Cape  Sheridan,  88; 
reports,  112;  depots,  135-36;  at 
Cape  Neumeyer,  141 ;  misses  Lock- 
wood's  beacon,  145;  work  from  de 
Long  Fjord  to  Cape  Bridgeman,  154- 
56:  on  the  Daniel  Bruun  Glacier, 
219 ;  and  the  war,  249 

Peary  Arctic  Club,  87 

Pearv  Channel,  154,  165 

Peary  Land,  119-20,  153-54;  hunting 
prospects,  124,  125 ;  fjords,  127 ; 
geology,  303;  sunlight,   309 

Peary's  beacon,  119 

Peking,  Wulff  in,  273 

Pemmican,  Polar,  41,  136 

Peter  Freuchen  Land,  165 

Petermann  Fjord,  70-72,  77,  79,  219, 
221,  223 

Petowik   Glacier,   21 

Photographing  the  musk-oxen,  171,  177 

Pirn  Island,  15,  149,  314 

Piulerssuaq,  8 

Polaris  Peninsula,  80 

Polaris  Promontory,  41,  74 

Polaris,  U.S.  ship,  75,  78,  143 

Poppies,   125 

Poppy  Valley,  120,  154 

Poroq  of  Stone,  31 

Portsmouth,  82 

Pressure-ice,  66,  112 ;  a  difficult  ridge, 
69 

Proteus,  steamer,  145 

Ptarmigan,  90,  98,  125,  299 

Punch,  Mount,  88,  90 

"  Putsineq  "  state  of  the  ground,  162 

Qana,  288 

Qaqaitsut,  Bight  of,  55 

Qatarssuit,  289 

Qidlaq,  immigration  under,  314-15 

Quarajalik,  style  of  house,  63 

Quinisut,  289 

Qulisivit,  63 

Qulutana,  248,  250 

Ramsay,  Cape,  157 

Rawson,  Lieut.,  95,  97 

Reef  Island,  96,  184 

Reindeer,    16 ;    customs    regarding,    51  ; 

uses,  246 
Reindeer-hunting,  Eskimo  love  of,  54-55 
Religious      traditions     of     the     Polar 

Eskimos,  27-32 
Renslaer  Harbour,  44,  47-48,  248;  evil 

repute,   50 ;  hunting  conditions,  51  ; 

seals,  187 

325 


GREENLAND  BY  THE  POLAR  SEA 


Repulse  Harbour,  86,  87 ;  Beaumont's 
beacon  at,  95,  96 

Rest  Point,  90,  91 

Rheumatism,   prevalence,   18 

Rittenbenk,  209 

Rivers,  glacier,  233-35 

Robeson  Channel,  73,  78-80,  114,  311 

Roosevelt,  the,  7 

Ross,  and  the  Polar  Eskimos,  1-4 

Ruins,  camp,  57,  58 ;  records  of  Eskimo, 
64 ;  near  Hall's  Grave,  76 ;  winter- 
houses,   242 

Russell,  Cape,  56,  57,  239,  245 

Ryder  Glacier,  202 

Sabine,  Cape,   149 

Sachseus,  and  the  Polar  Eskimos,  2-3 

Saint  Andrew's  Bay,   109 

Saint  George's  Fjord,  92,  93,  98,  109, 
161,  180,  184,  186,  191,  212,  216,  219, 
221,  246 

Salmon,  56 

Salor,  Cape,  138-39 ;  the  depot,  135  ;  the 
meeting  at,  160 

Samisulik  type  of  house,  57 

Saunders'  Island,  13,  14,  23 

Saxifrage,  125,  295-96 ;  living,  found  by 
Wulff,  88 

Schley,  Captain,  150 

Scotland,  mountain  chains  of,  305-6 

Scott,  Cape,  243,  268-69,  287 

Scurvy,  in  Markham's  party,  83 ;  Prof. 
Lindhardt  on,  83  note;  in  Beau- 
mont's party,  95 

Sea,  real  open  Polar,  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, 73-74 

Sea-hunting  by  kayak,  12 

Sea-king  mountains,  13,  25 

Sea-kings,  hunting  of,  13 ;  storing  of, 
22    25 

Sealand,  117,  131 

Seal-hunting,  14,  16,  198-206;  Utut 
method,  51-52 ;  in  Washington  Land, 
64  ;  hunting  a  sunken  seal,  191-93 

Seals,  126-27,  158-59 :  serving  of  bearded 
seal,  52 ;  eaten  bv  a  bear,  70 ;  at 
Dragon  Point,  101 ",  108,  109 ;  by  the 
whirlpool,  133;  habits,  142-44,  187 

Seddon,  Cape,  20,  67-68 

Selim,  Dr.  Birger,  272 

Sherard  Osborne  Fjord,  78,  92,  103,  173 ; 
journey  to  Nordenskjold  Fjord  from, 
94-123;  ice  of,  98;  charting  of,  104, 
106,  108,  111,  316;  snow  of,  114; 
crossed  for  the  last  time,  182-86; 
glaciers,  202,  216 

Sheridan,  Cape,  66,  88 

Shooting-sail,  use,  16 

Sikussaq  ice,  63,  69,  86,  89,  191,  242 

Simigaq,  house  of,  37  ;  personality,  38- 
40 

Sipsu,  hunter,  41,  76,  77,  288 

"Ski  Cove,"  112 

Ski-ing,  52 

Skis,  preference  over  snow-shoes,  221 

326 


Sledge-dogs,  16 

Sledge-lashing,  167-69 

Smith  Sound,  15,  50,  73,  146,  312 

Snorre,  203,  "  Hejmskringla  "  cited,  179 

Snow,    Polar,    Beaumont's    difficulties, 

96,  99 
Snow-houses,  20;  seasons  for,  318 
Snow-shoes,  Canadian,  221 
Snow-storms,  128-29 
Songs,  Eskimo,  39-41,  46 
Sophus  Miiller  Point,  316,  317,  319 
Spitzbergen,  mountains  of,  305-6 
Spring-time  camp  (Aunartoq),  50-53 
Stanton,  Cape,  89 
"Star,"  the,  62 
"Starvation  Camp,"  149-50 
Steensby,   Professor,   theories,  312-14 
Stephenson  Island,   102 
Stockholm,  272,  274;  the  Riksmuseum, 

273 
Stone-bearing  strata,  62 
Stores  cached,  stocktaking,  188 
Storms,  autumn,  286 
Strap-seal,  14 
Sumatra,  274 

Sumner,  Cape,  to  Dragon  Point,  80-93 
Summer  Valley,   175-83 
Sun,  the  midnight,  309 
Sunlight,  periods  of,  309-10 
Swedo-Russian  Expedition,  271 

Taney,  Cape,  54,  57 

Temperatures     measured     on     various 

types  of  ground,  293-94 
Tent-rings,  63,  316-17,  319 
Tents,   Eskimo,   19-20 
Th.  Thomson  Fjord,  155 
Thalbitzer,  William,  312 
Thank  God  Harbour,  41,  73 
Thetis,  ship,  150 
Thule,  21,  23,  248;  the  departure  from, 

33-35 ;    Hendrik    in,    208-9 ;    journey 

back  to,  285-91 
Thule  beacon,  156 
Thule  Expeditions,  64,  68,  165,  223,  274, 

316 
Thule  Mountain,  152,  154 
Tornarssuit,  30 
Tornge,  hunter,  house  of,  36-37,  57-58; 

story  of,  54-56,  66,  68 
Tower-traps,   54 
Trddgdrden,  the,  272 
Traditions,  burial,  49 
Traps,  American  steel,  14  ;  tower-traps, 

54 
Tyson,  Cape,  79 

Ulugssat,  camp,  36,  37,  286 

Umanaq,  Bay  of,  307 

Umanaq,  Mount,  34 

United  States  of  the  Ice  Period,  306 

Upernivik,  68,   146,  307,  317;  sunlight, 

309 
Utut  method  of  seal-catching,  16,  51 
Uvdloriaq,  64,  65,  68 


INDEX 


Valley  Pass,  96 

Valorous,  the,  82 

Victoria    Fjord,     166,    309, 

charting  of,  101-6,  122 
Victoria,  Queen,  82 


311,     316; 


Walrus-hunting,  14-15,  23-25,  51 

War,  news  of  the,  248-49 

Warming  Land,   189,    195-97 ;   point  of 

_  ascent,  200;  geology,  302 
Washington,  Cape,  64,  147 
Washington  Land,  54,  58,  224,  230;  to 

Hall  Land,  61-79 ;  coast  ice-foot,  65 ; 

geologv,  302-3 
Webster,  Cape,  64,  65,  229 
Westenholme's  Island,   14 
Whales,  24  ;  use,  50,  63 
Whirlpool,  the,  126-27,  133,  316 
Whitsun,  a  white,   116-17 
Wild  Fjord,  152 

Willow,  the  Polar,  125,  241,  295 
Winds,    places    of    habitation    classified 

by,  20-21 
Winter-houses,  62,  63 
Wohlgemuth,  Cape,  117,  119 
Wolstenholme  Fjord,  308 
Wolstenholme  Sound,  72 
Wolves,  Polar,  tracks,  89,  98;  and  the 

musk-ox,  105-6 ;  snow-white,  109-10, 

113;  an  experience,  198 
Woman,  the  Eskimo,  17-19 


Wood,  Cape,  57-58 

Wotherspoon  and  Co.,  71 

Wolff,  Dr.,  the  start,  33;  film-produc- 
ing, 52 ;  a  sledge  party,  54 ;  a  living 
saxifrage  found,  88;  letters,  118-19, 
135-36;  at  Nordenskjold  Fjord,  119; 
to  Cape  Morris-Jesup,  120 ;  meet- 
ing between  the  two  parties,  137  ; 
journey  to  Cape  Salor,  139 ;  arrival 
of  party  at  Centrum  Island,  162-63 ; 
quotes  St.  Augustine,  169 ;  and  the 
musk-oxen,  171,  193-94-  the  Daniel 
Bruun  Glacier,  210,  229 ;  investiga- 
tions, 215;  illness,  225,  233,  235-40; 
the  camp,  251  ;  Koch's  report  of  his 
death,  259-70;  a  Runic  Memorial, 
271-75;  his  last  letter,  274-75;  Har- 
rigan's  report,  275-76;  manner  of 
his  death,  277-79 ;  extracts  from  his 
last  diary,  279-83;  attempts  at 
burial,  285-87 ;  the  Flora  and  Fauna 
on  the  North  Coast  of  Greenland, 
292-300;  observations,  310;  men- 
tioned, 100,  101,  103,  106-7,  198 

Wvatt.  Mount,  200 

Wykander,  Cape,   138,   144,  157 

Yesso,  Island  of,  273 

York,  Cape,  1,  10,  17,  22-23,  48-49,  82; 

geology,  301  ;  ice  of,   307 ;  sunlight, 

309 


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